Empty Nation
by hemera7437
Summary: "Sparks in a nation once lush and alive, where now empty streets creep with death and decay. From the rubble of civilization a demon emerges, alone and destitute. Dying from disease is easy, surviving it alone is harder" by Amethyst288 (thank you so much) Basically the angsty Pandemic AU no one asked for
1. The beginning of the end

**_Part One_**

 _Pandemic_

* * *

Food was rare those days, Naruto was out to hunt with his tame foxes. They could catch a rabbit easier than him, even in a starved state. He couldn't really see straight, he was just so hungry.

The problem was the pandemic. The Creeping Death as it was called. It didn't have any symptoms, you would only grow weaker and weaker day by day until you couldn't even stand. And if no one provided for you, you wouldn't even die from the disease, but from dehydration and starvation. If you were lucky and someone was willing to share the spare provisions with you even when you were at death's door, you would die slowly, painfully. No one knew where the Creeping Death had come from and no one could examine it, the scientists who had tried were long dead already. They had been too close to the virus. Humans and animals alike succumbed to it, everywhere you looked laid rotting corpses.

Only Naruto lived. He had an immunity to it for some reason. He had never been sick in his entire life and continued to stay free from this illness. It was both a blessing and a curse.

Everyone he had known had died and he was all alone. The grief had almost killed him, but it clearly hadn't.

He only had his foxes and each and every day he prayed to whatever god, goddess or demon would listen, that they wouldn't be taken from him too.

Three foxes, one orange, one crimson red and one gray. He hadn't given them names, they were free foxes after all, he was no master of them and it was not in his right to name them even when they continued to stay at his side through thick and thin. Besides if he named them, their death would be even more painful than it would already be. They were the only friends he had left. His human friends were long gone and almost forgotten after all these years.

Naruto was alone. But he searched every day for life, anywhere, anyone. To chase away the stillness, the silence.

The only sound came from the foxes. They were quite lively for all this death around them. They liked to play fight against each other, their yipping echoing through the silent world. Without this sound, Naruto was sure he would have already gone mad.

Sometimes, on good days, there was also the bird singing. When the birds sang it was the best sign. The illness was far and his foxes were safe. But when Naruto found a place where the birds sang it was never a safe haven. Only a break for all his constant worrying. Because a few days after finding the place, the birds would fall silent. The Creeping Death would catch up and the insects and birds would be the first to fall ill.

The silence was all-encompassing, it was heavy and it was deafening.

When was the last time Naruto heard a human talk? Weeks? Months? Years?

He didn't know, couldn't recall.

This lifestyle was his life for as long as he could remember, everything before the pandemic a blur, the memory suppressed, denied, forgotten.

Naruto was hungry. When was he not? But it was getting worse. He could see the ribs of his foxes, he himself lost all his flesh too, but he would survive longer than his companions. The animals were all dead here and it had been weeks since they had last eaten. But they were too weak, too hungry to really travel far. And who knew where the Creeping Death had spread?

Naruto was worried. They couldn't survive much longer and they hadn't yet risked eating the bodies all around them. Soon they would have to try. Maybe 'soon' was now.

There in the bushes lied the rabbit Naruto found. The corpse still fresh, not yet rotten. The life had only drained from the rabbits eyes a few hours ago. He stared at it now for a few minutes, as if it would miraculously come back to life. As if the sight of it would change.

Naruto had already lost the ability to be disgusted, he couldn't afford it in this world, so he stared at the rabbit's body until his foxes joined him.

They made no move to eat it, of course, animals sensed the virus in a way humans didn't. They knew that the body was sick, like poison to them. But only to them, not to Naruto.

So he threw an old cloth over it and picked the poisonous thing up, using only two of his fingertips, minimal contact for the shortest time with the contaminated flesh, he was immune but he had no need to tempt the Creeping Death. He had made a fire earlier, as he had no fur to keep him warm. He tossed the meat into the flame. The fire hissed and flared up, the flame was green. A few minutes the angry sizzling died down, the flame was red again. Was the virus gone? Was the meat edible?

He let it cook for a few minutes longer before dragging it out of the ashes. The rabbit was coal black, so Naruto used his knife to cut it open and the meat inside was rosy pink.

Immediately the foxes sniffed it, deemed it safe and made to eat it. It was safe, the virus was gone, they could actually survive, they only had to torch the contaminated meat at first.

Naruto let out a laugh at that, his voice throaty and deep from the lack of use. His laugh echoed around and his mirth died down. So he found a way to survive. But what now?

Food hadn't been their only problem, they couldn't just continue to run. He had no idea how far the creeping death had spread, where it already was and where it had yet to come. It wasn't like he had a map of it.

He broke down where he stood and let the tears fall as the relief washed over him. He was tired, he didn't want to go on anymore, what was there anyway? Even if he could find food, what was there to go on for? Just a vast nothingness and the eerie stillness and silence everywhere. Darkness and death all around him and one day Naruto would even lose his foxes and he would be alone. The sole survivor of an arrogant species that thought it was invincible. The last living being on a planet of the dead.

At long last turmoil took over and Naruto screamed. His throat hoarse from being unused so long but he screamed anyway, even though it hurt, even though there was no one to hear him, no one to care.

His foxes were startled by his outburst, they abandoned their meal and fled, not used to this loud sound, not used to their human making any real noise.

They came back though, like they always did. Of course. Naruto was their ticket to survival after all. They needed him and as long as he stayed useful to them, they would stick around. It wasn't like they saw him as a 'friend'. Naruto was a means to an end for them.

His scream had died down to a sob. Naruto felt powerless. He was alone. Always was, always would be.

His 'future' was bleak.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNS

When Naruto woke up again after his outburst, it was dark. He sat up shakily and wiped at the now dried tear stains on his face. His foxes had left him a piece of the meat in the ashes of his forgotten fire and were nowhere in sight.

He immediately scarfed the food down, having not eaten before or after his break down and he'd been starved for a long time now. He was ravenous enough that he didn't even care for the ash on the piece or that it was already cold again.

Once done, he felt fuller than he'd ever been the last weeks, even though it was not a huge piece of meat. But it was definitely more than nothing. He licked his fingers for the residual taste. Then he started digging through the ashes of his fire to see if there was anything left in it. He even sniffed it, a habit he picked up after spending so much time only around his foxes. All in all, one could say that Naruto was more similar to an animal than to a human. Weeks and weeks out in the wild without any human contact and only instinct to trust did that to a person.

The foxes came back again, each of them carrying different animals. Three times as much food as he could have gotten by himself. They looked at him expectantly, were probably waiting to cook it, to free it from the poison.

Naruto started a new fire, the foxes watching his every move. While the fire got started, he began to skin the animals. Maybe he could use the fur, he just had to roast it a little, not burn it completely, then he could make a coat.

The flame was sickly green again when they cooked their breakfast and roasted the furs. It had been a good idea to do that first, the virus should be dead then and Naruto could use the skin without worrying about his companions falling ill.

When he pulled the meat out of the flames again, all three attacked a piece of it, but refused to eat the rest. Naruto was confused but relented in the end. It would mean more for him anyway and his body would thank him for the extra energy.

It was a fascinating feeling: to start into a new day with a full stomach. When was the last time he had felt like this? It was too long ago to recall, the constant hunger was all Naruto could remember.

He sat down. He had to think. What now? They couldn't stay here; the Creeping Death had already reached the area and the mere air could be toxic to his foxes. They had to go on somewhere.

But where? What direction had they come from?

Naruto didn't know. When they had arrived there, days ago, he had been so starved he couldn't even see more than blurry shades. He had guessed that his foxes had brought him something and he had scarfed the raw meat down without even bothering to check what it was.

So he knew that he had no idea where he had come from and no idea where to go.

And as brief as it was, the contented feeling of starting the new day without hunger was gone completely. In its stead; the pooling dread of not knowing what to do.

Naruto started breathing faster, shorter, shallower. A panic attack. Again.

He wanted to swear but his vocal cords had forgotten how to speak. He was trapped in his own mind with his own thoughts that haunted him.

His foxes sensed that something was up. The red one curled against his legs, the gray one snuck into his lap and the orange one climbed onto his shoulder, nuzzling the scars on his cheek.

He appreciated their effort, but it didn't help. He was close to hyperventilating.

What now?

What next?

Please.

Someone.

Help?

Who was he calling out to? There was no one there! He was alone, he was alone, alone.

Had there ever been someone other than him? Had the time, where he hadn't been alone, even existed? What if the world before the Creeping Death had only been his imagination? There wasn't anyone around to prove otherwise.

Wasn't this all he'd ever know?

His breathing got even faster, sometimes skipping a beat. He breathed and breathed and still got no air. Suffocating, drowning on land. Pathetic.

The foxes started to panic too; what if their pack leader died? What would they do? They needed him to start the fire for their meals. The frenzy of furballs agitated him.

They didn't even care for him, only for the food he provided!

Naruto didn't want to think that way, but he couldn't stop. His thoughts tumbling into a spiraling mess of nonsense. His vision got blurry from the lack of oxygen. The edges of it started to darken. He would lose consciousness any moment now and the thought spurred his panic on even more.

And suddenly…

Nothing.


	2. Foxy Time

_Naruto didn't want to think that way, but he couldn't stop. His thoughts tumbling into a spiraling mess of nonsense. His vision got blurry from the lack of oxygen. The edges of it started to darken. He would lose consciousness any moment now and the thought spurred his panic on even more._

 _And suddenly…_

 _Nothing._

* * *

Everything came to a halt. The earth continued to turn. The panic, the frenzy, the lack of oxygen – gone.

What happened?

SNSNSNSNS

"So you finally have this moment of weakness," a voice drawled. "Took you long enough to tether to the edges of insanity."

Naruto spun around immediately, his foxes were already on their legs too, searching for the source of the unknown voice, to see if it was a threat. How long had it been since Naruto had heard a voice? He almost didn't recognize the meaning of the words. He growled low under his breath. _Where did the voice come from?_ All around him was only the vast emptiness, glaring silence, barren world.

"Hmm, animal noises… maybe you are actually closer to insanity than I thought. Do you even understand a human language anymore? Should I talk to you in growls and hisses like the animal you've become?" The voice was mocking him. He didn't like the voice. He didn't see anything. Maybe it was just his imagination?

He could be hallucinating.

"So you are more convinced that your imagination likes to insult you than to believe that I'm real? Wow, that's pretty pathetic."

It could read his thoughts! What was this madness? Was he really hallucinating? Was that what dying feels like? His foxes didn't hear the voice apparently, they had already quieted down.

Suddenly a shade appeared at his side, Naruto immediately recoiled. There was a fox… well not exactly, it was translucent and as big as a horse and it had far too many tails to be one.

"Relax, at the moment I can only appear like this. You are still too much in control and I have no permission to move around. You are not insane enough yet."

"Hmmm, come to think of it, maybe I should kill one of those three. That would certainly break you and then I would have free range." the fox apparition said.

Now Naruto was getting furious. No one threatened his foxes, even if it was the first thing that talked to him in years. He could live in isolation if it meant his foxes were safe. He growled and threw himself in front of his friends, on all fours feral, wild, protective.

The thing chuckled, it was sitting now and looked far too regal with a vulpine grace, a few of its too many tails around it, the rest fanning behind it like a peacock's feathers. Its fur was deep crimson red with black streaks on it. If it hadn't been a threat, Naruto would have been fascinated by it. But as it was, the chuckle only agitated him more.

He hissed at it and pulled his foxes closer to his body; they were small after all. He could shield them from everything that shade wanted to try. He wouldn't let them get hurt even if it was the last thing he did.

"You are an idiot, aren't you? Just my luck to get stuck with a vessel that is dumb. Look at your foxes. They are calm. Why? Because I pose no threat. They recognize me. I only like to pull your strings. It's funny after all." Its tails were swishing and swirling around it, the orange and red dancing around like flames. Naruto could almost hear the cackling of this non-existent fire. It was mesmerizing. The fact that the tails too were slightly transparent only added to the ethereal glow. "Do you know how much you look like a fox kit at the moment?"

At his words Naruto allowed himself to relax slightly, though still in a protective stance over the foxes. The thing didn't feel like a threat. It felt oddly familiar…

"That's because I live in your body. Of course I feel familiar."

So now Naruto had completely lost his mind, what else was new? What did that even mean: 'Live in your body'?

The fox-thing growled.

"Just listen for once in your life. I am the reason you are still here. _I keep you alive."_

And the only thing Naruto could think of now was 'Then stop it! Make my life stop! I don't want to live alone in an empty world.'

But he still couldn't speak, his vocal cords had long forgotten how to form words, even though he wanted to scream them to the world. 'Don't leave me alone. I can't go on anymore. I am so tired. Make it stop.'

The words were on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't find them.

"No, that's something I can't do. You see if you die, I die. And I, for one, am still very fond of life."

So it was there to torture him? Finally giving him the reason why he was spared from death while everyone else wasn't and yet he could do nothing against it. He was doomed to be the last living being just because of this shade?

'What is this thing?'

"Have you finally gotten the idea that you can talk to me through your mind or are you just pitying yourself?"

By now Naruto was enraged. How dare this shade mock him? How dare it read his thoughts? How dare it still keep him alive?

By now he had figured that his foxes were safe and jumped the thing...

Only to pass through it completely.

"Weren't you listening? At the moment, you are still sane enough to keep me in check and I can only appear like this. Which already is an improvement from sitting in that cage of your body, but I still don't have a corporeal form. How did you call it? Ah yes, 'shade'."

Naruto was tired of this thing talking in riddles, never mind that it was the first time in years he had heard talking at all. But his capacity of comprehension was quickly reached.

This thing had said it lived in his body and that he kept it 'in check' and that he had to go insane to let it out? It was all confusing and he wanted it to stop.

So he sat down where he landed after jumping through the illusion, turned his back to the creature and closed his eyes. Maybe if he tried to will it away hard enough, it would disappear.

Only moments later he was attacked by three tiny furballs. He laughed and gathered them in his arms, completely forgetting the shade; it wasn't important anyway.

"So you're going to just ignore me?"

Naruto sighed. The apparition wasn't going to leave him alone. After all it said that it 'lived in his body'. This all didn't make sense.  
Who or what was this fox?

"Fine, I'll tell you. If you actually listen to me." it said. So it actually _could_ hear his thoughts. Naruto supposed it was a good deal and turned back around to look at the shade, his foxes still gathered in his lap and arms.

"I am the Nine Tailed Demon Fox," the shade, no - demon - began. "And you are my vessel, making you a Jinchuuriki, a half demon, not an actual human, by the way. I was sealed inside you after your birth. Your mother was my vessel before you."

Naruto's eyes widened at that. His memories of his former life were almost forgotten, but he knew that he had been an orphan, he never knew his mother. And now this _thing_ appearing out of nowhere knew her?

"Anyways," the demon completely disregarded Naruto's thoughts that it obviously had heard. "at the moment I live in your body and have only limited range. I could only come out to talk to you because your sanity is waning. The control your mind has over me is wavering, but still strong. And I hate to admit it, but I can't escape. This is why I need your _help_."

It spat out the word as if it was poisonous for it.

"The Creeping Death is spreading. By now it is almost unstoppable. It is affecting everything, humans, animals, even demons as of lately; nothing that breathes is safe. And it is evolving. It will find its way around any immunity if given time. And I, as the strongest demon out there, have to save my brethren. For the humans it is already too late.

But, unfortunately, I am trapped in here. So I ask for help. You already discovered a way to defeat the virus in dead bodies. Now I, no... _we_ , need to find where it came from and eventually we need to find a cure."

"Besides, it is personal for you too," the fox said, looking pointedly at Naruto's furballs.

Naruto finally began to understand why this prideful being had suddenly appeared. It was getting desperate - like him - it couldn't take the death, the destruction all around anymore, wanted it gone as much as he did. They were the same. And suddenly, Naruto felt like he wasn't all alone anymore.

He nodded once and the demon understood him immediately. The foxy grin it gave him, showed all of its sharp teeth and it reminded Naruto that it was a predator after all, a fox through and through, demon or not.

SNSNSNSNS

In the blink of his eye, Naruto was standing ankle deep in black water in a cave of sorts. In front of him, a huge cage and a seal on the cage's door.

"Where am I?"

Naruto recoiled at the sound of a voice, _his_ voice. When was the last time he had heard himself speak? And why could he suddenly form words again when a few minutes earlier, his vocal cords had not played along?

Then he noticed the absence of his foxes and panicked. Where were they? Where was he? What had happened?

"Relax, they are exactly where you left them, safely in your arms. We on the other hand are in your body. The part where I reside in."

The voice was loud and deep and echoed all around the walls.

And then Naruto saw the Nine Tailed Demon Fox in all his glory. He wasn't sure if one could call it a 'fox' anymore. It was huge, filling the whole cage, one eye of this demon was as big as Naruto's whole body. Its fur was as red as blood and had orange streaks, its nine tails swirling around dangerously. With every move, every breath, the body looked like it was on fire, flames dancing on the fur. The demon's eyes were even darker than it's fur, a blood red that knew no bounds. And the power practically radiated from it.

The whole ethereal being was beautiful. And Naruto could only stare.

This magnificent creature was living inside his body? How could anyone trap this being? Why would anyone trap it and cage it? Didn't they see that it should be free?

"Yeah, I would love to be free," the demon sighed. "But I am not and not even you can set me free so easily. Besides, I am trapped in different bodies for a few generations now. By now I am used to it. The shade you saw earlier was the most I could be outside in eons.

"But that's not why you're here. You agreed to help me. Do I have your word? That you won't abandon this halfway through? That we will save my brethren, together?"

"You can count on me," Naruto spoke without hesitation, even though the talking still seemed utterly strange. But he continued anyway. "What is your name?"

And suddenly everything stilled. The demon had even stopped breathing. The flames in his fur no longer dancing. What did Naruto do? Was it so strange to ask for his name?

But the demon quickly caught himself again. It was like it just decided to let it go and ignore it.

"You can call me Kyuubi."

Kyuubi. Nine tails. 'No, that was wrong', Naruto thought. One couldn't give a title as name. That would be as if he'd said to call him 'Blondie' because he had blonde hair.

The demon apparently didn't trust Naruto with his real name. But he couldn't call it 'Nine tails'. And giving the demon a new name was as inherently wrong as naming his foxes was. So Naruto decided on giving it a nickname. One didn't get to choose their nicknames, others did for you. So that should be okay.

"No," he said. "I won't call you Kyuubi. That is just wrong. I will call you Kyuu."

For a moment nothing happened. Then the Kyuubi broke out in booming laughter that reverberated through the whole cave.

"You think you have the right to give me a nickname, eh? Well, brat, then I will return the favor. You are now 'Kit'. It fits given that you are more of an animal by now."

Naruto glowered at the fox, but it lacked the malice. Of course, this was the first time in a long while that he had some sort of conversation, some sort of friend. And he would wear the name 'Kit' proudly, if it meant that he would be less lonely.

It was the first glimmer of hope, the blonde had in a long time.

And he would be clinging to it as if his life depended on it, because - in a way - it did.


	3. Determination

The next days seemed brighter, filled with a new determination, a reason to exist. Naruto embraced the feeling, as he had been empty for far too long.

Of course finding one soul to talk to in the vastness of the planet was not much and it wouldn't help as much as Naruto wanted it to, but it was a step to the right direction.

Kyuu had saved him from the insanity he had been tethering to, but the demon couldn't heal him completely. Naruto was far too gone for that. Too many years of isolation had passed to reverse their effect in one day. But that was okay.

The foxes seemed happy too. After all, the Kyuubi could be some kind of god to them. No wonder they didn't react badly when Kyuu first appeared. And now they liked prancing around and playing with the incorporeal form Kyuu could appear in.

That was another thing that saddened Naruto as of lately. The huge fox could only materialize as an apparition. He was kept in the cave in Naruto's body after all. And the blond didn't know how to change that. He didn't dare to imagine how long the demon had been isolated in there, in a far too small cage for a far too big body without any space to properly _move,_ doing things that giant spiritual demon foxes could do in a cage. It hurt to imagine someone in a position far worse than Naruto's had been.

That probably was the first time the Kyuubi got out of there at all. It wasn't easy to swallow one's pride and ask for help like Kyuu had done. And who knows how long that isolation had lasted to this day. When the fox talked it seemed like he had been there for generations, never once breathing fresh air.

And the moldy atmosphere of the cave was definitely not the right place for a majestic creature such as the Nine tailed Demon Fox.

Naruto had to find a way to help Kyuu. It was the least he could do.

"What are you brooding over, Kit? You look like you had your tail pulled."

Naruto growled. In the real world he was still incapable of forming words, speaking clearly. He wasn't sure if it was an ability forever lost to him by now.

Another thing he had noticed was that Kyuu in fact couldn't read all his thoughts, just the ones directed at him. It was a privacy Naruto was grateful for, after all the old fox didn't need to know everything of him. That kind of connection was too strong, too foreign after all these years of constant loneliness.

But still, the blond was happy that there was someone who could understand him even without his ability to speak. It was easier that way.

Despite his companion being a huge fox demon and by far not 'normal'.

He was no longer completely alone. And that was enough for now.

SNSNSNSNS

'For now' apparently only meant for a few days. Naruto's life always took one step forward and immediately two steps back. It wouldn't be his life otherwise.

The small glimmer of hope that Kyuu had brought was quickly diminished. Because none of Naruto's problems could be lifted by the demon.

The current problem was that they had wandered further, in hopes of getting further away from the Creeping Death. What Naruto had forgotten was that he had had a panic attack just before the Kyuubi appeared and this panic attack had been due to him not knowing where to go. His fear hadn't been unfounded.

He had chosen the wrong direction.

Instead of hearing more singing birds and more insects in the air, everything was quiet.

Naruto had brought them back to where the pandemic had already reached.

He howled in agony. How could he make this mistake? There was something more at stake now. There was a responsibility he had now.

He needed to keep his foxes alive. He needed to find a way to free his… friend. He needed to find a cure, to help him.

And yet he failed them.

Instead of outrunning the Creeping Death, he had guided them to its center.

And getting out of it, was now more difficult than ever.

His breathing was getting out of control again. He was already panting and gasping and clutching his chest. He couldn't let this happen, every second in the contaminated area could mean death to his foxes. And yet he couldn't do anything. His body was numb, not responding to anything he screamed at it. He couldn't move a muscle.

He fell to his knees. Distantly he could feel three furballs running around him, touching him with their noses, desperately wanting to make him get up. He saw the brilliant shade of Kyuu appear.

But he was powerless.

And everything went black.

SNSNSNSNS

When he woke up again, there was only pain. Around him, inside him. Every single fiber of his body was on fire. His innards felt like they were being ripped out of his body.

He twisted and turned but no matter what he tried, the pain didn't lessen.

He wanted to throw up, he wanted to scream, to cry. He wasn't able to.

Was this what dying felt like?

Had the Creeping Death finally claimed him?

 _"It will pass, eventually. For what it's worth, I am sorry."_ said the voice in his head as he lost consciousness once again.

SNSNSNSNS

The birds were singing. The insects were flying. The sun was shining.

The air smelled fresh and a gentle breeze was sweeping over Naruto's skin.

The fresh grass was tickling his skin. The foxes' fur was warm against his body.

Everything was peaceful.

 _That wasn't right._

Naruto shot up. With wide eyes he took in the scene. His senses hadn't deceived him. It really looked like a normal, peaceful day. The pandemic seemed like a faraway nightmare.

But how was this possible? The last thing Naruto remembered was collapsing in contaminated area, where grass no longer grew and birds no longer sang.

The foxes in his lap stirred, having rudely been jolted out of sleep by their human.

Naruto looked at them with wonder in his eyes. Their warmth still seeping into his skin.

This serene atmosphere… It seemed like a dream. Naruto didn't dare hope that it could be real. He probably still laid passed out on cold stone floor somewhere where the Creeping Death continued to linger. It was his life. There was no such thing as miracles.

 _"It is not a dream."_ said the voice in his head, Kyuu.

But how was that possible? There were no other living beings to move him, to bring him and his foxes to a safer place.

 _"You passed out. I told you, I get more control when you lose your sanity. Your consciousness was gone and I had free reign in your body. It's a fairly recent change that I can do that. So I took control over your body and brought us here. You actually woke up in the middle of the process, remember?"_

Yes, Naruto did remember. He had felt the pain, the agony, it made him lose his mind. Was that the Kyuubi's presence in his body?

 _"Not quite, Kit. You woke up to the time when your body adjusted to my presence. I am a demon and your body is human… well…_ was _human. A human body can't stand the presence of a demon without consequences. You, being a Jinchuuriki, get the better part of the consequences, because I am not an 'intruder' in your body but you are my vessel. I don't possess you, I live with you. Your body adjusted and has now some qualities of a demon. Better eyesight, better hearing, better sense of smell - you even have claws now."_

Only now did Naruto realize that his senses indeed had changed. He could see much sharper now, he could count all the hairs in the fur of his foxes, if he wanted. He heard the crickets chirping and the air stirring, when he concentrated he could even hear the heartbeats of his foxes.

 _"I wouldn't try to smell when I were in your shoes…"_

 _"Huh…"_

Instinctively Naruto took in a deep breath… And immediately bowled over and emptied all the contents of his stomach.

 _"I tried to warn you…"_ sighed Kyuu.

The air was heavy with the smell of rotten flesh and illness, it overpowered every other smell. It reeked of death. And Naruto noticed it now so much more than before. Because before, he could only smell it when he was in close distance to a corpse. Now, it was everywhere. He doubted that the smell hadn't reached all the corners of this world yet. It permeated to his very bones.

He gagged again, but there was nothing left in his stomach. How could anyone bear this?

The putrid stench of death was omnipresent.

 _"You will accustom to it. After a few days you won't smell it as much."_

But at the moment Naruto felt utterly repulsive. His new senses showed him the filth on his body, the grease in his hair, the odor of his skin.

Of course, he hadn't washed in a long time after all.

It just wasn't one of his priorities when the world collapsed in on itself. Who thought of proper hygiene when the apocalypse was knocking on the door?

But now that he had lost his weak and dulled human senses, he couldn't stand it anymore, he felt uncomfortable in his own skin.

 _"There is a small stream over there. It flows in the direction of the contaminated area, so it should be safe."_

Kyuu was a lifesaver, Naruto decided.

So he gathered all his foxes and practically ran to the stream. They all needed a bath to get rid of their filth.

He jumped into the stream on sight. The serene atmosphere of a healthy environment without the threat of the Creeping Death made him giddy. He almost felt like a child while splashing in the water. All his problems and concerns were but a distant thought in the back of his mind.

It was relaxing.

After a good hour of splashing around and washing both himself and his foxes who were also very lively, running around as if there was nothing weighing them down, Naruto finally emerged from the water. His skin was now back to a healthy skin color, just slightly red from the furious rubbing and washing, instead of moldy gray and caked with dirt. And his hair was once again soft and as golden as the sun rays instead of matted and greasy. All in all, he finally felt like a human again.

He looked at his old clothes distastefully. He had tried to wash them, but he couldn't get all the filth out of the fibers. They were still gray and caked, full of holes, and looked more like rags than a piece of clothing. The shirt was unrecognizable, so Naruto decided to just leave it be.

Fortunately it was summer and he wouldn't need it. Besides there was no one there to scold him for improper attire, he could just go on shirtless. He put on the pants again though.

By now, his foxes were running around him excitedly. They had caught a few rabbits.  
Compared to what they had over the last few weeks, that was a feast.

Several minutes later and they were all happily munching their food.

For once, everything was going right. For once, the apocalypse seemed far away.

Naruto could cry from happiness.

His foxes were done with their dinner and attacked Naruto. They jumped on him, pushed him to the ground and proceeded to attempt to lick his face off.

Naruto was laughing whole heartedly at their antics, his voice still deep and raw. But it didn't matter. Because this moment was heaven on earth. It was bliss.

He gathered all his furballs in his arms, burying his head in their fur, nuzzling every fox separately. They were his family. A red, an orange and a gray fox. And a giant demon fox.

He snorted, the gray fox still smelled even though they just bathed. Naruto knew that it was a normal trait for gray foxes, but in this moment it was one of the funniest thoughts he had:

 _"If I were to name you, I would give you the nickname Smelly."_

SNSNSNSNS

Three days were spent in bliss. But, of course, eventually it had to come to an end.

It was midday on the third day spent in the shadows of the trees by the stream when suddenly the wind changed direction.

Immediately the strong scent of death wafted over them. The grim reaper continued his gruesome job, the Creeping Death was closer.

They had been splashing around in the water when the scent hit them. And everything stopped breathing, the joyful mood replaced by tense silence instantly.

There was a hush over the forest. The whole world stopped turning and Naruto knew, their time there was over. They had to get on the move and continue in the opposite direction.

They had to.

They couldn't afford to stop moving.

At least they had been able to stock up their reserves, eating enough to regain at least some of the fat they needed to survive on the run.

But still. It was so unfair.

Naruto desperately wished he could curse that moment, but the only thing that came over his lips was a deep, pained growl.

He should probably stop trying to speak. It lead to nothing and it wasn't like he would need to speak to anyone anytime soon… maybe never again.

The blond sighed.

No need to dwell on the past.

He now had a purpose, a mission. Well three to be accurate.

He needed to care for his foxes. He needed to help the Kyuubi on his quest. And he needed to find a way to free his friend.

Only then was he allowed to die.

But until then he had to keep moving, keep pushing through, keep surviving, keep _living_.

Even though that was easier said than done.

He had to do it.

Even when every time he took a breath reminded him of all the death, of all the pain, of all the loss.

He could do it.

He had to.

 _He had to._

Maybe if he repeated this phrase like a mantra, he would be able to believe his own lies.

SNSNSNSNS

With the enhanced senses, traveling was easier. He knew where to go and didn't have to live with the fear of going in the wrong direction.

He could smell where the pandemic had lingered. It was both a blessing and a curse. To be able to smell the death. So much, that he could almost see, feel, grasp the grim reaper.

It weighed him down.

His legs felt like they were made from stone. Or lead. Heavy. Unmovable.

Every step was torture.

Every breath a stab to his chest.

The optimism of the blissful days almost faded, only a wisp remained.

But he forced himself to go on.

For his foxes.

For Kyuu.

For his last friends.


	4. Hope

A few days later they found themselves in another terrain. The ground got rockier, the ways steeper as they started climbing the mountain.

The trees were sparse and far in between, the cliffs more dangerous as they went on with their way.

Naruto would have preferred to stay on even ground, but the Creeping Death had cornered them and instead of sitting with their backs to a wall, Naruto had chosen to climb the rocky steep.

It wasn't ideal, for his foxes too, but they beared through.

The wildlife was also sparse. The foxes often came back empty handed. It wasn't their normal hunting ground.

And then it started raining.

They had found cover in a cave and Naruto wasn't sure whether he was glad it wasn't already occupied or sad about it since they really needed food and in his desperate state he would have fought a bear if necessary, consequences be damned.

But the cave was empty and he and his family huddled close together in the far back of the cave. They were soaked to their bones and could only provide each other's body heat since one would not be able to find a single dry piece of wood for a fire.

It was quiet, the only noise the rushing of the rain.

The rain washed a bit of the scent of death away - not completely of course, Naruto still wasn't able to escape it. The awful stench permeated even through the streams of water as if they were nothing, as if water didn't normally hide all scents. It was frustrating, he couldn't have even one minute where his nose didn't constantly remind him of the fact, that he was alive in a dead world. That he was alone in an empty nation.

The crimson fox sneezed, the small sound cutting through the silence and echoing around the cave walls. Naruto wanted to laugh, but all he got out, was a choked gasp.

Hopeless. Bleak.

And yet he couldn't just stop, not even when he desperately wanted it all to end. Not even when he drowned in his own thoughts, in his own madness.

They wouldn't be able to do much of anything in that rain, they just had to sit and hope that maybe some other desperate creature would seek shelter in this cave.

Maybe Naruto would have to go out in the rain to hunt. Not that his chances of catching anything were very high.

By now, the blond cursed his decision to throw away his shirt. It had been a rag of filth but it had provided some warmth. And when he would go out in the rain to hunt, maybe some sort of cloth would've helped him ward of pneumonia or something similar. But he had thrown the thing away, thinking that he wouldn't need it in summer. He never had been able to think everything through completely. Not even in the past world.

So he was alone with his own mind with nothing else to distract him of his racing thoughts.

Kyuu had been sleeping the last few days. Not that Naruto could blame him. Sleep was the only pastime Kyuu had in his tiny cage. Sleep and thinking. And Naruto knew that the demon preferred sleep to thoughts. Who didn't?

But in his madness, Naruto wanted to talk to anyone, anything and his physical state didn't even leave him that tiny satisfaction.

He wanted to disappear.

Moments later, he found himself in another cave. Ankle deep in water, the cage a familiar sight. He could hear his friend's breathing, could feel his warmth and for once could only smell the scent of the demon, the smell of the illness hadn't reached his heart yet.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

A few minutes, maybe hours of break. He could give himself that much.

He stepped up to the rusty door of the cage. He could only see the crimson fur of his resting fox. But it was glorious.

He stepped through the bars easily. Touching it, feeling the warmth, the softness of it.

He found the Kyuubi's face tucked under one of his many tails. And slipped under the same tale, curling up next to the fox's cheek.

It was warm.

It was safe.

He was asleep in seconds.

SNSNSNSNS

Deep rumbling awoke him. For a few seconds he was utterly lost, he could only see a mass of red, then the memories of the last night returned. He blinked and rubbed his eyes lazily.

"You know, that makes you look like even more of a kit, Kit."

The rumbling was laughter.

Soft, low chuckles that reverberated through the cave, creating ripples in the water.

"You're warm," he pouted. Still unsure of his heart's voice. Still unable to comprehend that he could actually communicate to the old demon.

"No worries, little kit."

A huge tongue appeared, completely licking Naruto's whole naked upper body.

It was gross but he wouldn't have it any other way. He almost started crying at the sentiment of Kyuu.

He curled up in the warm, soft fur even more.

"It's comfortable here, I can actually sleep," he whispered, not noticing the knowing look Kyuu sent him.

In this cage he wasn't alone. Here was his only and last friend whom he could talk to. And he would fight to keep it that way.

He may have only known the Kyuubi for a short while but he already was family. The last soul Naruto held dear.

He swore he would help his demon fox. He swore he would find a way to his freedom. And then, he hoped, maybe they could stay together forever, or at least for as long as Naruto had to stay on this wretched earth.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"Your new senses. I know how they weigh you down, I know how much more difficult the life with them can get. It is a double-edged sword really. But it helps as much as it hurts. And for what it's worth… I am sorry that you have to deal with these senses. In your core you feel like a human, even when your body isn't and it will continue to give you problems, these senses that belong to a demon soul. I caused you this new pain that you hadn't had before I took control over your body. The few advantages don't balance out all the disadvantages."

Naruto glanced up at the giant fox. The crimson eyes filled with sadness and regret and with the same hopelessness Naruto felt every day, since the apocalypse had spared him.

"It's difficult, yes. I can smell now how much pain this pandemic has brought, I can almost taste the tears of the whole of humankind. And yeah, it hurts, it hurts so fucking much. That _I_ am still here, while they aren't. And these new senses remind me of my utter loneliness with every breath I take."

Kyuu winced at that. His fur shaking and moving. The apparition of flames in the glowing fur seemed dimmed. The Kyuubi really thought it was his fault and it was destroying him.

"But, there are so many advantages, Kyuu. I know where I'm going now. I don't have the feeling of always turning in circles, chasing my own tail and at the same time digging my own grave. I feel like I can protect my foxes with these new abilities. You took over after I made a grave mistake and had you not, we would surely have died. And this, makes every single pained breath worth it. You, Kyuu, have saved the life of my foxes, you saved my life and you kept me from insanity. Nothing you can do, will change the fact that I owe you. And the new senses are a miracle. And I will bear with them and never complain, because with them I am far stronger than I was as a human. And in this world… Here, now, a _human_ can't survive. So never apologize. In fact, let me thank you. Thank you, for being there for me."

His voice echoed through the cave. The sound of it so utterly unfamiliar to Naruto. A sound he had not heard for so long, he had forgotten it. A voice, _his_ voice filling the silence. Cutting through it like a warm knife cuts through butter, effortless. And it was so hard to speak that Naruto's vocal cords had forgotten how to. It was a miracle that he could talk in here, that he was able to make recognizable sounds, that he could communicate after years and years of stillness, loneliness, isolation.

Silence fell again, but this time it was comfortable instead of tense. Naruto cuddled his Kyuu's fur, it was so soft and warm, it felt so inviting. It reminded him of his three furballs, only far bigger. He could disappear in this fur. He loved it.

"You know, you are always welcome here," the Nine tails suddenly said.

Naruto's eyes widened. In a way, Kyuu was inviting him in. Allowed him to seek comfort in the ancient demon's presence. It was in a way compensation for the pain the new senses brought, after all Kyuu knew exactly why he had come in here to sleep. His eyes watered slightly but he blinked the tears away. The decision came fast and easy.

"Then you are welcome with me too," he said matter of factly.

Kyuu stared at him questioningly.

"I mean, you even managed to take over my body once. It should be possible to do it again. I give you permission. We could try it out. I'm sure you want to see the outside world sometimes. It is an incredibly small cage for you don't you think?"

The demon looked flabbergasted.

"We should try, I'm sure with enough practise we will be able to switch control over my body easily."

Naruto wasn't sure why he got so excited at the idea of giving Kyuu the control over his body, but he was and if it made Kyuu happy, he would do it in a heartbeat.

"...Kit," breathed the Kyuubi. _"Thank you."_

And he sounded like Naruto had gifted him the world.

Naruto smiled. His grin wide and foxy, showing all his teeth, reflecting the happiness he felt inside. A grin that he hadn't shown for quite a long time. Actually, he'd long since given up hope that he would ever find reason to show this expression again.

But now, it had all changed. Maybe, just maybe… Maybe he could survive the end of the world.

SNSNSNSNS

After days of raining cats and dogs, the pouring finally stopped. At first, the sky was still gray, but Naruto's new eyesight allowed him to spot pieces of blue sky between the clouds.

Furthermore, he was now able to hear the wildlife stirring again from where it had been hiding from the weather. And with the constant noise from the raindrops finally gone his senses were sharper than ever.

He was able to make use of the hesitation of the animals, because while they were stirring again, they still hadn't left their hiding places. He was able to hear their breathing, their heartbeats. It was easier to hunt that way, he found several rabbit holes within minutes. And his arm was certainly long enough to reach to the very end of the burrows.

It pained him to do such things to the innocent creatures. His new hearing enabled him to hear their fluttering, fearful heartbeat, his new eyesight showed him their pleading frightened eyes. They had thought they were safe in their holes.

It reminded him of himself, when the pandemic had suddenly struck and no one had been safe in their homes.

Sometimes he asked himself, what made him choose his three foxes as family and not see them as food? How easily could that meat over his fire have been them?

Bile rose in his throat. He swallowed it down again.

But at the same time, he just couldn't bring himself to care for the animals he captured. It was cruel, it was wrong, but it also was the way of life. And he and his foxes were hungry and needed the nourishment.

When he thought back to the time _before_ , he hated how often he had thrown away good food, how often he had been picky with his eating. He didn't have that kind of luxury now and it made him think about all the things he had taken for granted. All the things he didn't appreciate enough when he had them still.

Occasionally he would dream of fast food, of sweets, of cooking that wasn't just a piece of meat thrown over the fire. He had tried to eat vegetables too, but it was hard considering that he had close to no idea what was actually edible and what could be poisonous.

It wasn't like he had learned in school how to survive in the wilderness after the whole of humankind was wiped out, even though such a course would have been a little more useful than some of the stuff he actually did learn in school. It would have been so much easier if he had known what kind of roots were okay to eat, what champignons or other edible mushrooms actually looked like. Or even what kind of plants he could use against wounds and small illnesses. Or any information about the world outside of civilisation really. He was only glad he knew how to make fire, that was the only reason why he survived this long.

But it wasn't like any human had actually believed anything like this could ever happen, that there could ever be a reality without them. It had been such an absurd thought once . Of course, after all, his species had been far too arrogant. _Something like the black plague could never happen again, after all we have better hygiene and medicines._ Who would have ever predicted a virus that was immune to all vaccines and antibiotics? A virus that was so contagious that even breathing the same air as a sick person would lead to you falling ill as well?

But it had happened.

And now Naruto was sitting in front of his fire, staring at the bunnies he had slaughtered to sustain his own life. What gave him the right to survive while the bunnies had to die? Lost in his mind as he thought back, to times when the world had been alive.

He sighed. They were good pieces of meat and at this point, that was all that counted.

His foxes circled him excitedly. They were hungry too and the bunnies smelled delicious.

And after days of sitting in a cold moist cave, a warm fire was nice too.

Naruto and Kyuu had put their abundance of free time in the cave to good use. They were able to switch control with only a few complications. It had been a difficult process to accomplish even that.

At first, nothing had helped at all. Only when Naruto had slammed his fist into the cave wall in rage at his own incompetence had it worked. And Naruto had savoured the feeling of consciously surrendering his body to the entity living in his heart. Afterwards it had only been a matter of training, over the days they had switched more often than they could count. The foxes watching them curiously, like they were a source of entertainment.

It had been a productive pastime. It was a step to freedom for his demon.

But it had been quite tiring, which was why the Kyuubi was currently sleeping in his cage, all curled up, looking like a fluffy disc of crimson fur.

After stocking up their reserves, they would continue along their way. Naruto was only glad the rain provided enough water reserves to last them a few days. He had a few bottles in the backpack he was carrying, stuffed in the pack together with the furs he had collected not long ago. The backpack was a lifesaver and Naruto couldn't believe he had been intelligent enough to carry it with him. He had found it in a building in, what had once been, his hometown. All the residents were dead so he hadn't thought of it as stealing.

That day he had been wandering around in the empty streets when he decided that he couldn't go on that way. That he needed to leave his town in order to survive, in order to maybe find some other survivors. So he had gone on a scouting trip all over the town to gather all the useful stuff he would need. It had been one of his smarter ideas and he had obtained his backpack, several water bottles, knives, medical kits and some other useful gadgets that day. And this stuff had saved his life more than once.

Naruto shook his head. Dwelling in the past wouldn't help him in the present. He needed to get on the move again. He wanted to cross the range of mountains soon.

Gathering his things and putting out the fire he made to leave. His orange fox decided that he didn't want to walk and made himself comfortable on the blond's shoulders, yipping loudly as if he was laughing at Naruto, his brothers responded in kind.

Naruto chuckled, they would make it. They had to.

SNSNSNSNS

It took several days to climb the cliffside of the mountains. More often than not, the ways up were far too steep to climb up, not even Naruto's new abilities as half-demon helped. More than once they ran into a dead end and had to turn back and climb all the way down again.

It was difficult and it was gruesome. And Naruto was so afraid that anyone of them would lose their footing and plummet down the mountain at any moment. But they couldn't turn back. The Creeping Death hadn't reached the foot of the mountains yet but it was travelling fast. They had to make it to the top before the pandemic.

It was a race against time and all five of them were getting impatient, frustrated and anxious.

Naruto had even reserved to carrying his foxes after a while out of fear that if one of them fell he would be too late to come to the rescue. So the three were currently stuffed in his backpack, only their heads and paws sticking out holding onto the blond's shoulders, yipping loudly and showing their support. The scene would have been quite endearing if it weren't for the fact that they all could die with one wrong step of Naruto.

He and Kyuu often switched places but it didn't help. Not even a demon could conquer this rocky steep easily without proper gear.

He even did loose footing once and for one terrifying second he thought everything was lost before he miraculously managed to catch himself again. Afterwards he just stood there for a few minutes desperately clinging to the rocks in order to catch his breath while his three furballs lathered his neck with foxy kisses, maybe to comfort him.

His hands, arms and legs were already all scratched up, bloody and bruised when they had only half the way behind them. The thin air was making it hard to breathe, it was making him dizzy and his vision blurred.

Naruto was breathing heavily as he stared up the way they still had to go. He had finally found a big enough rock to relax for a short time because he couldn't really feel his limbs and exhaustion was starting to consume his body. He stared all the way down at the way they came from and saw only rocks and cliffs and sharp edges and a long way down. One wrong move would be deadly for sure.

Still, the view was incredible. There he sat, half way up a mountain range and he could see his whole country. It looked so beautiful from above. No one could ever guess how much pain and death this land had to endure the last few years.

He sighed. This land lied now behind him. He didn't know if he would ever return but this was his only way out, even though it was a journey to the unknown. It was said that nothing lived behind these mountains. It was common lore, told to scare little kids. But it was a fact that the people who tried to cross this huge rocky barrier never returned. Like they were wiped from the face of this earth.

But Naruto had no other choice. It was either facing certain death on this side of the border or cross the mountains and face the unknown. It hadn't been a hard decision.

After an hour or two of rest, he continued on his way. Some paths up easier than others but it didn't matter anyways. There was no way back.

It took a week to scramble up the cliff.

He and Kyuu alternating with one another, one sleeping within while the other climbed the mountain, three foxes safely stored in the pack.

It was hard on Naruto's body but eventually, they succeeded.

It was morning when they reached the top. Naruto tiredly pulled himself the last meters onto a platform when Kyuu suddenly said:

 _"Look, Kit. You did it."_

And indeed he did. He sat at the summit for a few seconds catching his breath before standing up.

The height was making him a bit dizzy but after a week of climbing at these heights, the blond was used to it.

There he stood, with the most magnificent view he had ever had in his entire life.

Behind him the plains and valleys of this old home, shadowed and dark in the night. Looking peaceful and serene even though with no doubt the Grim Reaper continued to do his job and the Creeping Death caused havoc and destruction.

But before him, the sun was rising. Painting the new land in hues of gold and orange. Bathing the ground with light. Everything was luscious and green and the sky had the most gorgeous cerulean color, mirrored in Naruto's equally blue eyes. He could see every valley, every hill, every place and it was the most beautiful sight he had ever laid eyes on.

Tears were streaming down Naruto's face as he stared into this land.

He took in a deep breath and broke down into even more sobs.

This land, _this new world_ , lay before him like a blessing, untouched by the Creeping Death.

Naruto had reached his destination in time. He had won the race. For a few weeks he would be free of the constant death that had been surrounding him the last few days.

He breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment he was _free_.

The foxes in his backpack where yipping and laughing loudly, exuberantly.

Kyuu was laughing. _"You did it, Kit. You did it."_

Naruto chuckled through the tears.

This was a new chapter of his life. This was the new breath of hope he needed.

This was a new world and here he would find answers and solutions to all his problems.

And for once in his new life Naruto was optimistic.

He could do this.

And so Naruto let out a triumphant scream.

\- **end of Part 1:** ** _Pandemic_** -

 _To be continued_


	5. New world

Naruto spent a whole day atop the mountain he had climbed. It was no wonder, really, since he could barely feel his limbs after the grueling way up. He was also all scratched up and could barely breathe due to the thin air, so he just lied down on the rocks and didn't move a single muscle. Kyuu was left healing the scratches and bruises; another advantage of being the vessel to the Nine Tailed Demon Fox.

The sun rose and set, shining on his body almost the entire time. There had been a time where this amount of sunlight would've burned his skin, but after years spent in the wild, Naruto had a healthy tan and wasn't as susceptible to sunburn.

His foxes enjoyed the new terrain, they were jumping and running up and down again, hiding behind rocks and staring at the view. Sometimes Naruto wished he could have their energy, their enjoyment of life.

He sighed. He couldn't spend much longer on the summit. Eventually they would have to make their dangerous way down. As eager as Naruto was to explore the new world he entered, just as reluctant was he to actually make his way down. The way ahead was equally steep and rocky as their way up, but climbing down was far more difficult.

He was afraid that he would end his stay in this new place before it even began.

But he knew he would do it, he was determined. He had managed to climb up, he would manage to climb down.

 _"Ready, Kyuu?"_

 _"Ready when you are, Kit."_

Naruto allowed himself a grin, it only lasted a second, but it was more than he had smiled the last few years.

He dared to hope. Maybe there was something out there to make all of his pain… worthwhile.

SNSNSNSNS

The foxes were stuffed in his backpack again. They were enjoying their luxury seating far too much, yipping and barking the entire time. Paws on Naruto's shoulders, the furballs were watching him climb down.

Maybe it was fun from their perspective. But Naruto could only growl and gnash his teeth together. Not seeing where he placed his feet was terrifying and every wrong step could mean a very fast but painful and deadly way down. Once again his entire body was bruised, bloody and exhausted, his palms were sweaty and his heart was beating in his throat.

He huffed. At least his foxes were safe.

And continued on his way.

SNSNSNSNS

After a while of climbing, Kyuu apparently decided that he should distract Naruto from his pessimistic thoughts.

He began to talk in the back of his host's mind and basically forced him to listen.

He talked about demons, probably because it was the topic he knew most about, but it was interesting to listen to.

There were nine demon kings - the Tailed Beasts, Bijuu - and the Kyuubi was the most powerful of them. That was why Kyuu was the one who took the responsibility on his shoulders and asked his Jinchuuriki for help on the quest to find a cure that threatened their race's existence.

Directly under the Demon Kings in power were their Jinchuuriki, vessels to the kings like Naruto was. Even though they were just half-demons, the power they needed to hold a Bijuu at bay was enough to put them over any other demon in the ranks.

Next in line were the Seven Clans, families that were loyal only to the Kings and their Clan. Each line holding a different powerful ability amongst their members. The strongest of the clans even had a blood line additionally to their skills. These families were not to be trifled with.

Apparently, the Uzumaki were one of the strongest Clans, as the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki always stemmed from this family. A fact that completely baffled Naruto. He had grown up as a orphan and now he learned that his lineage was one of the most powerful Demon Clans. It was bemusing. Why had he never known about his ancestry? Where had they been all his life? Why did he have to grow up alone?

But Kyuu couldn't answer his mental questions. No wonder, the fox had been kept within Naruto his entire life after all. They would have to find out what happened to the Uzumaki together.

So the fox continued with his tale, explaining the different abilities of the clans', talking about the life source of all demons: chakra, and how Naruto, as a Jinchuuriki, would have to learn how to use it properly.

His explanations were complicated and Naruto couldn't grasp everything at once, he was concentrating on climbing down a mountain after all, but he listened anyways. Chakra, Naruto decided, was a lot like the thing humans would call _magic_.

Kyuu's words filled the silence of his brain and prevented him from thinking about what would happen if he made one wrong step while climbing down and for that, Naruto was grateful. It made his task easier when he didn't have enough time overthinking it.

SNSNSNSNS

Before long, they finally reached a part of the mountain where Naruto didn't have to climb anymore. The jagged rocks and cliffs gave way to trees and bushes and ground where his feet could find hold more easily. The ways were still steep and more trails than actual roads but it was a relief in comparison to the endless mountain climbing he had to endure the last few days.

His foxes wasted no time in jumping out of the backpack. As comfortable as it was, the foxes were too hyper to let themselves be carried the whole time. Therefore they were already jumping and running around while Naruto still had to catch his breath.

He plopped down on the now mossy ground and decided that a quick break wouldn't hurt.

He watched his fox's antics amused as his eyes became heavier until they eventually dropped shut. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, his foxes were laughing. For the moment he was safe and death was but a distant nightmare.

SNSNSNSNS

The moment in which he didn't think about death, was far too short, gone within the blink of an eye. The foxes running around so excitedly stirred memories in Naruto.

They had been so small when he found them, so _vulnerable_.

He had been wandering alone for a year back then. The pain of the deaths of his friends still fresh wounds, deeply embedded in his bones. But after a whole year since the outburst of the Creeping Death, most of the humans were already dead.

Their bodies lay rotting on the ground, filling the air with an impenetrable stench that still caused Naruto to gag. Around the carcasses laid various insects and other dead animals, reminders of those foolish and desperate enough to get close to the infested flesh.

It was there, where he found his foxes' mother.

She had been desperate, had wanted to find a way to feed her starving children. But the virus spared no one.

She had succumbed to the Creeping Death. Her dead body lied close to the human corpse she had tried to eat.

Her children, far too close to her, wailing as they expressed their mourning and their hunger.

They had been so small and yet, they had made enough noise to alert Naruto of their presence. They had been huddled together as a pile of fur as he found them. When he tried reaching for them, the gray kit had bitten his fingers with his tiny teeth.

Naruto had made a decision. They had been barely more than skin and bones, not nearly enough to nourish him, that's what he told himself when he took pity on the tiny creatures and picked them up, regardless of their biting and week hissing.

They were so tiny, he had put them in the hood of his old orange jacket, he still wore even after a year of not washing it. The foxes apparently felt safe in his hood.

 _Four_ foxes, huddled close together for warmth as he took them away from the dead body of their mother. Four little fox kits, one orange, one gray, one crimson red and one as white as freshly fallen snow. They were so lively, so excited even though they were so badly malnourished and had just lost their mother.

He grew to love them so much over the span of just one day.

The orange one, was always loud, always chipper and mischievous.

The red one was calm and collected and liked to sleep most of the time.

The gray one was always so protective of his siblings, often trying to bite or scratch Naruto for touching them. But the most protective was he about the white kit.

The white one was female. She was as calm as her crimson brother and as fun loving as her orange one. She was the smallest and the most fragile one of the four. Soon, Naruto found himself as protective of her as her gray brother. He dubbed her _Yuki_ in his head.

Fortunately, they were in a city. It wasn't easy, but he managed to find milk, that hadn't expired yet. He used the milk to feed these starving furballs.

Being in cities was easier for Naruto too. He had already gotten past his hesitation to just take something from the homes of the people once living there. After a year, he was desensitized and no longer considered it stealing. He often raided houses, looking for food and other useful stuff, filling his backpack for the days he would need it. Eating fruits and vegetables from long abandoned gardens and taking the canned food and other provisions with him.

But the milk the foxes needed, was hard to obtain. A year of standing in fridges - that had long since lost the electricity they needed to function - made most food go bad.

And what else could he feed to four starving fox kits?

That question sealed his doom. What else could he feed them, indeed.

The little milk, he was able to obtain, was nearly not enough. He had to find out the hard way.

The weakest of the four couldn't make it.

He cursed himself to all the heavens as he buried the tiny body of the white kit. His tears hitting her unmoving body as he lowered Yuki into the small hole he dug for her. Her brothers wailing even louder as they had for their mother.

The gray kit wasn't the same afterwards. Of course not, Naruto didn't blame him.

But still, the foxes clung to Naruto, seemed to adore him.

As if it wasn't Naruto's fault that their sister died.

As if Naruto didn't fail to protect her.

As if Yuki didn't hate him for basically killing her.

But the mourning wouldn't save her brothers. So he locked this freshest hurt in his heart, to all the others he had lost and continued on his painful way.

He found a library in this town. And for the first time in his life he actually stepped into it voluntarily.

He spent days in that building, devouring books about foxes and how to feed their youngs. Books about plants and roots that were edible or poisonous or had medical properties to them. It was essential to their survival.

He spent his days painstakingly memorizing everything, reading the words through tears as his memories caught up to him. After all, he had never been the fastest learner and his teachers had more often than not scolded him for it, wanting him to read the books instead of skimming them and failing his tests. It shot pain through his chest as he remembered them and how they always wanted the best for him and yet he didn't listen.

He had been a brat back then.

So he studied everything he found in this library because even the smallest details could decide between life and death.

He learned that foxes were omnivores. That made his life considerably easier. He would feed them the cherries and small fruits he found in the abandoned gardens of the town. He also started catching mice and insects for them.

But the kits were still small and their teeth not properly developed. So he sometimes needed to masticate small pieces of flesh for them.

It was disgusting and it was necessary.

He wouldn't let them die like Yuki did.

He had thought about naming the other three, but in the end, he decided against it.

Names made death more painful. Yuki was the best example for it. Besides, Naruto felt he had no rights to name them. Maybe they already had names, given by their mother. And he had failed to protect their sister, they didn't deserve any name he could ever give them.

The three grew up to be fine foxes after Naruto had learned how to feed them. A thing, that he should have done before Yuki had to die.

And after a while, they started feeding him the way he had fed them. Bringing rabbits and other small animals for him to eat.

As if they had forgiven him.

SNSNSNSNS

As he looked at his foxes now, he still saw the vulnerable creatures they once were in them.

He wanted, no, _needed_ to protect them. He couldn't fail them again. And the first step had been bringing them out of the way of harm from the Creeping Death.

 _"What's the matter, Kit? You suddenly grew tense and quiet. Aren't you happy we escaped?"_

He was happy. But at the same time, he didn't deserve to feel happy. What gave him the right to feel happy after he had failed so many people?

He sighed.

 _"It's nothing, Kyuu."_

But Kyuu was persistent. And eventually, he told the ancient fox of the kit that starved due to his inability and ignorance.

Kyuu said nothing. But he brought Naruto back to his cage and let him cry into the Kyuubi's fur until he fell asleep.

SNSNSNSNS

He awoke again to three foxes jumping on his stomach. He grunted and sat up, chuckling a little at the innocent faces his little pests gave him. Then he proceeded to smother them with love, ruffling their fur and petting their ears until all three were purring up a storm.

These three were the only thing that kept him sane during years of isolation. And he loved them with all his heart. Once upon a time, maybe a lifetime ago, he even talked to them, talked about anything and everything, just to fill the silence. Even though he knew they probably didn't understand him and he was essentially talking to himself. But he did so anyway to keep the deafening stillness away, until one day his voice just dried up - almost mid-sentence -, never to be used again.

 _"Good morning, sleeping beauty. Finally decided to grace us with your presence? You slept for two whole days!"_

Now that Kyuu mentioned it, Naruto did feel more rested than he had felt in years. Never had he had the luxury of just sleeping without the fear that the pandemic would eventually reach him, that something would happen to his foxes. And now… Now his body had forcibly taken the much needed sleep and Naruto felt refreshed and energetic and oddly happy. It felt like he had accomplished so much by coming here. The mountains felt like the closure of a huge part of his life, a section filled with death and despair. Now it was done and over with and Naruto prayed to whatever deity there was that the next part of his life in this new world wouldn't become the same and would maybe be filled with more hope.

Kyuu hummed something in the back of his mind.

 _"What is this tune?"_

 _"It's an ancient demonic lullaby. It is supposed to calm down the kits."_

And it really did. It put Naruto's mind at ease, finally he was freed from all the whirring, racing, pessimistic thoughts of his mind. Even if it was only for a while, it helped greatly.

The foxes had apparently caught food for him the days he slept and under the peaceful humming of his demon friend, he strengthened and grew determined.

He had made it so far. He could go on.

SNSNSNSNS

After another day - this time - of hiking, they finally reached the foot of the mountain range and almost even ground.

They had reached their destination.

A feat that Naruto had deemed impossible and now they had done it.

It was like a huge burden lifted off his shoulders. And for the first time in years _he could breathe_.

The very air around him felt alive. Thrumming with energy, life force. The whole land was breathing. And it was free from the Creeping Death.

Naruto had escaped.

SNSNSNSNS

The next week was spent wandering around, not quite knowing where to go but the constant need to head somewhere in particular was absent.

They could just wander aimlessly and they wouldn't necessarily die at any given moment.

It was refreshing.

Maybe a little boring, but after the exhausting trip across the mountains, Naruto preferred 'boring' to deadly any day.

Boring was safe. Boring was not intimidating.

He and Kyuu talked about anything and everything and it was a fresh breath, not talking to himself, actually getting an answer.

They would even play games together, word games in Naruto's head without any real reason.

And Kyuu would tell him stories of long forgotten times that now seemed more like fairy tales than real stories. He laughed and cried as an ancient fox told him of love and suffering, of war and peace, of life and death. Their bond getting stronger with every breath they took, every game they played and every story told. Their laughter binding them together until neither could imagine a world where the other wasn't in it.

And each night, Naruto slept curled into the crimson fur of his ancient fox as his physical body was covered with the fur of his three other foxes. Dreaming of the ones he had lost and the ones he would die to protect.

They were a family and their new weeks of happiness strengthened that thought.

They would make it.

The foxes were content. They would run around and hunt for food and when they exhausted themselves, they would return and sleep in Naruto's backpack. Bundled together, paws and heads sticking out behind Naruto's shoulders, they made an endearing sight. A warm mass of colored furballs on his back.

That also was the sight Naruto presented when he came across the first excitement in the new land.


	6. Strangers

GUESS WHAT! I AM ALIVE! Mostly... Barely... Anyways, I am super late with this chapter because real life decided it was fun to hit me in the face with a sledgehammer... And unfortunately for me, it's still not done yet .""  
But at least I can bring out a chapter after so long!

That's why the chapter is a bit longer and SURPRISE: Sasuke is here!

* * *

They had been here for two weeks now and had yet to meet a single person.

At first, he had been afraid the population in this land was dead too, but Kyuu was quick to reassure him that was not the case. As a full blood demon, the Kyuubi still had better senses and he felt the aura of the people in this land. And as it appeared, the population of this land, was mostly - if not completely - demonic.

That was probably the reason why the humans of Naruto's old country never ventured beyond the mountains. Humans and demons normally didn't mingle.

But that was alright. Naruto needed to help the demon race after all. It was kind of convenient to arrive in a land of demons.

It was interesting to finally know why humans told scary tales crossing the border of mountains.

But it was still weird that they hadn't come across a single person after being here for so long. Even Kyuu voiced his concerns.

Where had all the people gone?

What had happened?

The Creeping Death had yet to reach _this_ land, but was it at fault as it was for so many things in Naruto's life?

Both, demon and half-demon, puzzled about these questions but they had yet to reach a conclusion.

The land suddenly appeared to be eerily quiet, even though it still thrummed with life and the birds still sang. Even the three small foxes seemed to sense the change in mood of their pack leader.

They stopped running around exuberantly and made themselves comfortable in the backpack again.

This was the way they found _him_.

Naruto's foxes just suddenly got very agitated, yipping and howling, all looking in the same direction and trying to get Naruto to move there without jumping out of the backpack. As if they were afraid, but something needed to be done. Kyuu, who had been sleeping at that moment, woke up from their antics.

 _"I think it's urgent, Kit. It feels like something important, but I can't quite place it. I feel an aura but… In any case, you should check it out,"_ he yawned and shook the sleep out of his fur to become more alert again. The exhaustion had taken a great toll on his body too and he actually dozed off even though they were in a new land and he ought to be more cautious than that. Besides, someone had to take care of his Kit.

So Naruto went where his foxes urged him to.

And froze in his tracks.

There, at the edge of the trail, half buried in the bushes, lied a black lump.

A person.

A living breathing person.

He was all beaten up and was bleeding and looked almost at the verge of death.

But he was _alive_. Naruto felt it. Naruto smelled it. Naruto heard it. Naruto saw it.

It was a strange thought.

The blond took in a sharp breath. Still rooted on his spot. Unmoving, tense, breathing heavily.

Kyuu gasped.

 _"A demon,"_ he breathed. _"A Surae of the Clans."_

Suddenly, Naruto was in a hurry.

The person, the demon, was dying. And he was the only one here. He had to help him. He needed to stop this. In this case, he could actually do something!

So he dragged the body out of a bushes. Turning it around, he looked into the most beautiful being he ever laid eyes on.

Raven black hair framed a pale face, that, even scratched up, looked stunning. Pink lips were slightly parted and his eyes… His eyes were open just a slit so Naruto couldn't make out their color. But they were open. And the being in his arms… was still conscious.

"Foxes on… shoulders…" the stranger gasped out, clearly a little delirious and not quite aware.

Then the eyes slipped close and the stranger's breath evened out. He had lost consciousness.

 _"His eyes, Kit! Did you see his eyes?"_ Kyuubi sounded breathless, his usually calm demeanor breaking. His evident panic working Naruto too into a frenzy.

 _"No! I didn't see his eyes! Why is it important? What do I do? Why are you panicking this much?"_

 _"He is a Surae of the clans and from the look of it, he is member of one of the stronger families and if you had seen his eyes I would have known which clan! And even from here I can see that he has at least three fractured ribs, a broken leg and some sort of wound on his torso! He is a powerful demon! Of course I'm panicking! What could have happened to him to put him in this state? And is the threat still around?"_

Naruto blanched and growled. This was urgent and he didn't know what to do.

He had to get away from here, the Kyuubi was right, the thing that put the stranger into this state could very well be still around here.

They had to get to safety fast.

So he hurried to get out of his backpack, three foxes already hurrying around and dragging the bag with them, and heaved the raven on his back.

Now what?

Where could they go?

But the foxes were already a step ahead and dragged the pack away through the bushes.

Naruto decided to follow them, although far slower with his heavy burden.

The Kyuubi lent him strength and he was able to transport the body to a cave the foxes found.

He thanked his lucky stars that it too was uninhabited and placed the guy down on the ground. It wasn't the ideal place for a wounded person but it would have to do.

Almost immediately Kyuu pushed at the forefront of Naruto's mind, taking the reigns. The blond could only watch as his own hands emitted a strange energy and glowed red on Kyuu's account. Kyuu guided his hands over the entire body of the unconscious demon, at some points the glowing getting brighter, the energy more intense.

Naruto watched in fascination as the shallow cuts on the stranger's face closed and disappeared. The ancient fox was healing him.

Then Kyuu carefully pulled the man's shirt over his head, revealing a large gaping wound on his chest all the way down to his stomach.

The scent of blood hit Naruto's nose with a vengeance. It reminded him too much of the Creeping Death. While Kyuu made to heal the wound, Naruto pulled back into the deeper parts of his mind, desperately trying to escape the constant death that seemed to follow him wherever he went. Would he ever be free?

Suddenly he was harshly pushed back into control of his body.

 _"He is stable,"_ huffed the Kyuubi. _"At least for now. His wounds were deep and I could only do so much. I healed all shallow wounds, corrected his broken bones, that they don't heal the wrong way and slowed down the bleeding of the wound on his stomach. But he is out of mortal danger. Make sure he doesn't get worse, the wound was very deep, Kit. The healing took up quite a bit of my chakra and since I can't use all my capacities while locked inside of you, this has to suffice."_

He swore.

 _"Had I been free, I could have healed him almost completely."_

A sharp pain shot through Naruto's chest. How could it not? Once again, he was the problem. Had he not been there, Kyuu would have been free.

But he couldn't afford to dwell longer on that thought.

He needed to help the stranger first. He needed water, food, a fire and maybe some sort of padding to lay him on.

He needed to get moving.

SNSNSNSNS

A few hours later and Naruto was back in the cave.

The man was now lying on a pillow of leaves and moss and was wrapped in Naruto's old quilt that he was still carrying around after all these years. He had used rags and his old clothes to clumsily bind up the wound on his torso and put a wet rag on the man's forehead.

It was poorly done in comparison to the medical attention the demon needed but he only possessed the most basic skills in medicine and he never had anyone to care for him while he was sick. He was improvising and hoped that it would be enough.

A fire was burning at the entrance of the cave, both keeping away most animals and heating up the cave. His foxes had been very diligent again and had brought enough food for all of them, that was currently cooking above the fire. It was a relief that the wildlife in this new land wasn't as sparse as where they came from. They had starved for long enough.

The unconscious stranger groaned in pain and writhed in his lair.

The blond desperately wished he could do more for him, more to ease his pain. But they had to wait for Kyuu to restore the chakra he could use while in Naruto's body.

Naruto felt powerless.

He solemnly watched the flames of his fire, alert to all the happenings right outside the cave. Keeping guard over the wounded demon.

He didn't sleep that night.

SNSNSNSNS

When the sun rose the next day and Naruto awoke out of his restless doze, Kyuu was still sleeping. Naruto couldn't fathom what using chakra energy did to the fox so he let him sleep. He had now even more of a reason to free his friend. Or at least, loosen the chains the Kyuubi was bound with.

The foxes were already gone. Probably out playing or hunting. They needed the freedom after being kept in a small backpack for so long.

Naruto stood up and stretched hearing all the bones in his back crack and groan from the bad position he had spent the night in.

He sighed. The feeling of just staying in one place got to him. It felt like a sitting duck. The years on the run from the Creeping Death taught him that not moving was a certain sign of death. The lack of distraction ate at Naruto's nerves. He hated being alone with his own thoughts, he always was.

He stood there, staring out of the cave entrance and yet he saw nothing through the blurry fog in his eyes, he saw nothing but the past.

 _'Fuck.'_

He couldn't afford to break down again. They had reached the new land. They were _safe_. They didn't need to run all the time.

But the stagnation suffocated him. Would he ever be free of it? Would he ever escape his fears? Why couldn't the appearance of Kyuu be enough? Why did he still feel like the last living soul on the entire planet? It didn't make sense!

It shouldn't be this way!

Why couldn't it just _stop_ ? Why did they all still _haunt_ him?

Wasn't it enough that he had to look into their dead, vacant eyes as he _buried_ them?

Couldn't the dead just let him be? Couldn't the dead just pull back the _claws_ they had hooked into his very soul?

Would every day feel like they were crawling out of their graves just to drag his soul to hell for not being able to save them?

Would it ever stop?

Naruto was tired. He didn't know how to go on, how he somehow managed to pull himself together every time even though he was in pieces that were only held together by the tiniest string. He was ready to fall apart at the seams.

It felt like a mere breath of air could leave him crumbling to the ground.

He felt weak.

He felt powerless.

Useless.

Why had the gods spared him? Why him of all people? What had he done to deserve such fate?

Alone. Desolated.

Hated by the fates themself.

He fell to his knees, head hung low, the tears in his eyes blurred the sunrise outside the cave.

He had always hated giving up and yet here he was, on the brink of doing something he absolutely despised.

His throat felt like someone squeezed it shut.

Every breath stung in his chest.

Why was he still allowed to breathe?

WHY?

But he didn't get an answer. As always. There was just silence everywhere. Sickening, deafening silence. The birds still sang, the world continued to turn, Naruto was insignificant.

SNSNSNSNS

After what felt like an eternity standing on his knees, Naruto struggled to get up. The tiny rocks on the ground stuck to his shin and his knees ached. But finally he came to a stand.

A rustle sounded behind him.

He snapped around so fast, he heard his knees crack.

The wounded stranger was awake. And he was staring at Naruto with his midnight black eyes wide open.

Naruto froze, wide eyed. He had completely forgotten about the man. It was no wonder, given that he had always been alone and had gotten used to it.

He wasn't accustomed to having another breathing _person_ around.

They stared at each other, not even blinking. Naruto because he still couldn't fathom it. The man probably because he woke up with wounds all over and a stranger to care for him.

Naruto was silently screaming at Kyuu to wake him up, but it wasn't working. Of course not, he was passed out for nearly a day now.

He couldn't expect any immediate help from the old fox.

What should he do?

He couldn't even _remember_ the last time he had any kind of interaction with someone that didn't conveniently live in his head.

"Are you going to stare at me all day?"

Naruto jumped at least a meter high, the stranger had actually _talked_ . To _him_.

The whole situation was just so strange for Naruto. He stared at the man with even wider eyes. Frozen like a deer in headlights.

"Tch. Who are you and where am I?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, only to be brutally reminded of his lack of voice by the inhuman sound that came out of his throat.

He immediately closed his mouth again and stared some more.

What now? They couldn't even communicate.

In his panic, Naruto didn't even notice that the stranger had spoken in an entirely different language that Naruto wasn't supposed to be able to understand.

"Just my luck to be injured and now stuck with some sort of feral who can't even talk." the man muttered to himself, which Naruto would have never heard if not for his new senses.

Naruto looked down at himself. He had totally forgotten that he was shirtless and after his crossing of the mountain range, his body was caked with dirt and dried blood, both from himself and the stranger. His pants were a torn, unrecognizable cloth. Naruto's hair that hadn't been cut for years hung in filthy gray clumps from his head reaching his shoulders. He truly looked feral and the noise he made when he had tried to talk didn't make him seem like any sort of sentient being. The stranger probably took him for some sort of ape.

He turned away from the man and went to start the fire again. There was nothing else he could do at the moment. They weren't able to communicate and the man's wounds were still too fresh so he probably couldn't move at all.

Naruto felt the intense stare of the stranger in his back while he started the fire and boiled some water, it made him feel self conscious. And nervous. Couldn't he look anywhere else? When was the last time anyone had looked at him so intensely?

He tried to ignore the stare as best as he could but he almost burned himself while boiling the water, he wasn't very good at ignoring things.

His foxes returned, they had found some squirrels and rabbits and one of them was pulling a birds nest behind him, today Naruto could make omelette.

The gaze had shifted from him to his foxes, he could almost physically feel it. The man was assessing the three and probably didn't know what to make of them.

His foxes on the other hand knew exactly what to make of the now awake stranger. They immediately decided they had found a new plaything and jumped the man, attacking him with tongues and paws. The man was taken aback, he even tried to move away but he could only grunt in pain as his wounds stopped him from getting away so easily.

Soon the man's face was no longer visible under three masses of different colored fur. The foxes were yipping loudly as they barely left him enough space to breathe.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the sight, it was rough and sounded more like coughing but his foxes lost their interest on the stranger that moment and were at Naruto's side at the next. It wasn't often that their leader laughed but it always was a good sign, they understood that much.

Chuckling, Naruto scooped them up in his arms, letting them lick his face with wagging tails, not caring about the intense stare directed on him again.

After a while, he let them jump out of his arms again and attended to the water again. He had found some mint leaves on his journey, which he put in the boiled water. That didn't exactly make the water tea, but it wasn't like he had any better alternatives.

He then went to the stranger's lair and helped him sit up as much as it was possible. Then he gave him a plastic cup of the "tea", gesturing for the man to drink. He was now more thankful than ever that he had thought about obtaining the basic utensils when he had left his home village. Without the stuff he had taken with him, he wouldn't have survived that long… if at all.

As he thought about it, he probably should bandage the man's wounds. He hadn't done so earlier because his mind was preoccupied, but the man's injuries needed some attention, even though Kyuu had done a very good job in healing them.

He left the man to drink his tea in peace and rummaged in his backpack to search for the first-aid kit he was carrying around, even though neither he nor the foxes had ever actually needed it. A first aid kit didn't help against a deadly virus spreading as far as the eye could reach. At least the bandages were still wrapped in plastic and likely still sterile.

The man still watched him with curious dark eyes, not saying a word as he lifted his shirt to give Naruto more access to the still quite large wound on his torso.

It was quiet in the cave, save for the rustling of the linen and the foxes' panting.

Naruto knew his skills weren't the best, but he'd never had a first-aid class or anything, he was making this up on the fly. The stranger wasn't complaining though, so maybe it was decent, at least.

Afterwards they just sat close by, in silence for a while, neither really knowing what to do with the other's presence. Not that it was very surprising in Naruto's case.

He stood up abruptly, awkwardly pointing to the rabbits on the floor where the foxes had left them. The man didn't react and his gaze didn't waver. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had developed when he was a child, though he hadn't used it in a while.

He went to skin and cook the meat, all the while pondering about the new addition to his companions. It wasn't like the man had said much. The only thing Naruto really knew about him was that he was a demon of the Clans, according to Kyuu. But Kyuu was still sleeping, so he wouldn't get any more information from him, and it wasn't like he could ask.

Besides, the stranger didn't know anything about Naruto, since he probably didn't have a convenient fox living in his head.

It was like they were at a stalemate.

And from the looks of it, neither was willing to make the next move anytime soon.

So they were both sitting and assessing their standpoints, trying to figure the other out.

Trying to figure out whether they were a friend... or foe.

SNSNSNSNS

The silence during their meal was more deafening than any silence Naruto had ever experienced.

Maybe it was because there was a living breathing person there with him, without saying a single thing.

Maybe it was because Naruto was more aware of the silence, of his inability to form words. A feat that had been so insignificant only a few days earlier.

Naruto wanted to scream.

It all came down to him being unable to get his own name out to introduce himself.

Of course the fates would punish him this way. During his lifetime he had always liked to talk, always loud, always happy. Those days seemed like another life entirely.

Now he was silent, depressed, anxious… alone.

He had company and yet he still was so alone.

It wasn't fair.

Why him? Why-

"Can you understand me?"

Naruto jumped at the sudden question from the man. It cut through the silence like it never had been there at all, halting all of Naruto's trains of thoughts.

Mutely he just nodded, hoping that it was a universal sign for agreement even for a demon.

"So, a high ranking _Surae_."

It was a statement leaving no room for denial and yet it wasn't true. " _Surae"?_ Naruto was human, he was only a vessel to a demon… right?

He dazedly shook his head, which earned him a confused look.

"What do you mean? You are a high ranking Surae, otherwise you wouldn't be able to understand the language of the _Corvi_."

Naruto blinked at him.

"You really think you aren't a Surae..."

The raven seemed at loss. And Naruto didn't know what to do to relieve the confusion. Damn his mute throat.

Suddenly an idea came to him.

He scooped up the sand and dirt of the cave floor and formed a elevated line on the ground, roughly resembling a miniature mountain range. He pointed at the model and then he pointed at the mountains, barely visible through the cave opening. The man seemed to understand and nodded.

Then Naruto drew the outlines of his country where he had fled from and made a wobbly circle on the other side of the miniature mountains, indicating the land they were in now. He drew an "x" near the mountains and pointed to the man and then to him and then around the cave. Since the raven didn't look too confused he continued by pointing on his old home and put his hand on his own chest, using two of his fingers to "walk" across the model to the "x". Then he looked at the man expectantly.

Said man nodded but still looked a little bemused.

"You say you came from across the mountains? From Horaeth? But that's human's land… How can you be from there and still understand the ancient language of the Corvi?"

Naruto just shrugged. He didn't know what "Horaeth" was or who "the Corvi" were. They were just terms, thrown in the room and he didn't know what to make of them.

"That doesn't make sense…" The man mumbled.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't know what to do, it wasn't like he knew much lately. And this just brought back his question of what he was doing in a human village when according to Kyuu he was part of the Uzumaki Clan and at least half demon.

He sighed. It wasn't like he could change anything and he wouldn't get answers any time soon. He should just drop the issue and think about it once he attended the more important problems first.

His first priority was, after all, the Creeping Death.

And then he needed to find a way to free Kyuu.

Everything else was unimportant. Irrelevant. At least for the moment.

The man had gone back to watching him intently. As if he could find the secrets of the universe in Naruto's face. It made him feel uneasy, so out in the open. He again became self conscious of how he looked.

"Sasuke." The man suddenly said.

Naruto stared at him and he elaborated.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke of the Corvi. Heir to the leader of the Raven. A Surae of the Clans."

Naruto could only gape. The man… no, Sasuke, introduced himself like he was royalty. And here Naruto was, just a lonely, dirty human who couldn't even _talk_ to reciprocate the introduction.

He was just Naruto. An orphan. A no-one.

But Sasuke continued. "And I don't believe you. You have to be at least a Surae of the Clans to understand our language. Only the Legendary Three make the exception. A lesser demon wouldn't even be able to make out words, let alone sentences. And I will find out about you soon enough, whether you can talk or not."

"Besides, I need to go to the lands of Horaeth anyways. You can guide me there."

Suddenly panic filled Naruto.

 _No! That wasn't right! Why would he go there? Doesn't he know about_ it _?_

He grabbed Sasuke's shoulders, his arms were shaking.

 _He wouldn't allow it. Not another death. Not another corpse to bury. Never again. Please._

 _Please..._

 _"Kit. You are bruising him. Everything is fine. He will not die. You need to breathe. In. Out. Slowly. Deep breaths, Kit."_

Slowly but surely with the help of his old fox, Naruto regained his composure back.

He loosened his grip on Sasuke's shoulders but he didn't let go.

He didn't dare meet the raven's shocked eyes, staring at him as if he was a puzzle that needed to be solved.

Then he took a step back, eyes still fixated on the ground. He pointed to the miniature map that somehow survived his frenzy. He drew a circle in the dirt where he had drawn his old country. _Horaeth_ , Sasuke had called it.

He dug his finger deeper into the dirt, as if it was responsible for all his pain.

Then he met Sasuke's eyes and made a "cut-throat" gesture.

The raven's eyes widened even more.

Naruto pointed to Horaeth, simulated a few coughs, and did the gesture again, hoping that the man somehow understood him.

And he did.

It was a miracle, really, but the next words rolling from Sasuke's lips were:

"A disease… Horaeth… is dead?"

Naruto could only nod.

And silence fell again.

* * *

Notes:

Yay for Sasuke!  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Since I'm currently still being tortured by real life, I can't say when the next chapter is going to come out but I hope I'll have it soon! And it has a new POV ;P


	7. Surae

**_Sasuke's POV_ **

Sasuke was running. He didn't even know how he managed that feat with the stab wound made by his own sword in the hands of a hydra. He was running, even though he felt his broken ribs poke painfully into his lung with every breath he took.

But he couldn't stop. He didn't know whether his pursuer was still behind him. After all even a lindwyrm could be dangerous when angry.

He cursed under his breath. It was just his luck. Of course Kabuto would come after him when his master was killed. The man had clung to the serpent as if his life depended on it after all.

Well it wasn't his fault Orochimaru chose this day to try to take over the control over Sasuke's body, being the sick snake he is…or rather, was.

While Sasuke did win the fight, going against a _Surae of the Legendary Three_ certainly took its toll on the raven's body. He was battered and bruised and the wound in his stomach was bleeding heavily as Kabuto found him standing over the dead body of the hydra.

In a matter of seconds Sasuke had at least a hundred snakes, the pets of Orochimaru and an angry Kabuto, even more a pet of that sick man, on his tail.

With his injuries, Sasuke had made a tactical retreat. Basically he had run from the scene, not caring about the snakes nipping at his heels or the stinging pain of his broken ribs. Stopping wasn't an option. Stopping meant death, be it at the hands of Kabuto or the fangs of the snakes. Stopping meant abandoning his promise to Itachi, abandoning his quest for revenge.

So Sasuke ran.

He couldn't even use his wings. With almost all his chakra depleted, they had retracted back into the mark at the base of his neck. He was like a fish on land, Kabuto only had to reach him and he would be done for.

But of course, his luck had other plans for him, because when was his life ever _easy._

The snake's poison made his sight blurry. It didn't actually help that he was immune to their poison, as it took a while for his body to flush the toxic out of his system. In his wounded state, even he experienced the effects.

The effects being that he was dizzy and didn't see the tree's root before he slammed against it at full speed. Sasuke could almost hear the bone in his leg crack and splitter as he crashed head first into the undergrowth. Now he wouldn't be able to move at all.

He was dead.

It was only a matter of time.

SNSNSNSNS

But maybe, just maybe, fate had other plans for him.

He laid in the bushes, fading in and out of consciousness, his mind was still affected by the venom.

He wasn't sure whether it was real or he was already hallucinating.

Suddenly there was a strange man above him. He looked at Sasuke with concerned, panicked cerulean blue eyes that reminded Sasuke of a clear summer sky.

Why was there a stranger staring at Sasuke? But the odd thing about it, were the three patches of colors on his shoulders… were they… foxes?

Sasuke couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. "Foxes on… shoulders…" he muttered and his world sank into darkness.

SNSNSNSNS

When Sasuke woke up again, he had definitely moved. He didn't recognize his surroundings and even in his still hazy mind that fact sounded the alarm bells in his head.

Where was he?

The last thing he could remember was running from Kabuto and Orochimaru's snakes, stumbling over a root, falling head first into the bushes.

Wait, that wasn't everything. He remembered a face and … foxes…?

He tried moving but that only shot intense pain through his whole body. Sasuke bit his teeth to prevent a painful grunt. He remembered his wounds from his fight with Orochimaru of the Legendary Three. Moving his body wasn't exactly a good idea.

So he opted for slightly moving his head and letting his eyes wander around.

He was in a cave. It wasn't a big one but it was a shelter from mother nature. He was lying on a mass of moss and leaves and someone had tucked him into an old quilt smelling of years and years of usage. It was still dark in the cave but Sasuke could make out the last smoldering of a fireplace.

A figure was sitting huddled together at the entrance of the cave.

Was this the one that had brought Sasuke here? What did they want from him?

Sasuke strained his neck to see more of this person but he stopped when he felt a wet rag on his forehead almost slipping off. He quickly reverted back to the position he slept in. Lest he woke the figure up with his rustling. Before he knew for certain that he wasn't in any danger from this person, he should feign sleep. Sasuke didn't like being in a predicament.

After what felt like hours watching the unmoving lump, the figure finally stirred. Sasuke could barely make out the person's silhouette in the dim lighting of a cave at night, but from the looks of it, he was probably male. The man stood up and stretched. In the all-encompassing silence Sasuke could clearly hear all the bones in his back crack from the bad position he had apparently spent the night in. The eerie sound echoed slightly from the cave walls.

The man sighed. Sasuke didn't know how a small sound like that could seem to carry all the weights in the world. Tired and sad and heavy. But still it bounded of the stone, ringing in Sasuke's ears.

Behind the man, the sun rose and the new, soft light shone brightly into the cave, creating a halo around the man that seemed utterly otherworldly. Sasuke's breath caught slightly, but he wasn't sure why.

The sunrise illuminated the cave and Sasuke could only blink against the bright light, trying to take in his surroundings.

But the man, still standing at the cave opening, didn't appear to see anything. He was standing there unmoving with his back to Sasuke and yet the Uchiha somehow knew that the man's gaze was distant. He wasn't taking in anything of this. The sight of the sun rising that could make everyone _hopeful_ and yet the man's sigh still echoed in the silence.

Suddenly the serene atmosphere was interrupted. The man's breathing suddenly became labored and heavy and _loud_ in the awakening world. A hand came up to clench above his chest. The frame trembled.

 _A panic attack_ , Sasuke realized.

The man fell to his knees, head hung low, hand still grasping his heart. In his still paced breathing, Sasuke could almost hear the suppressed tears. The stranger hit the ground with his fist once, weakly, probably not even realizing what he was doing.

And still, Sasuke did nothing. Couldn't do anything. He just lied there and watched, unable to tear his eyes away from the silhouette still illuminated by the rising sun, glowing ethereally. His hand twitched to reach out to the stranger. But he didn't succumb to the urge. He didn't know this man.

Then why did he want to protect him with everything he had?

What was happening to him?

The cave was silent save for the breathing of two people filling the air.

SNSNSNSNS

After what felt like an eternity, the man struggled to rise to his feet. The tiny pebbles sticking to his skin fell to the ground, making a light sound as they did.

This time, Sasuke couldn't control his hand as it twitched to reach out to the man. The quiet rustling it made sounded incredibly loud in the stillness.

The stranger immediately caught the sound and spun around on his heels so fast his joints cracked. It was as if he had forgotten that Sasuke existed.

Due to the back lighting, he still couldn't make out the stranger's face, but he swore he saw his eyes gleaming. Cerulean blue that shone brightly in the dim light despite everything.

Eyes that spoke of ages and wisdom that went far beyond a single man's years. Eyes hard and determined and yet soft and sad.

Sasuke gulped.

Cerulean blue clashed with midnight black as they both stared at each other unblinking.

When the man came slowly closer, his appearance finally became visible to the Uchiha.

Sasuke studied the man. He was shirtless and a his toned upper body was caked with dirt and what seemed to be dried blood. His pants were a torn, unrecognizable cloth and if he ever had had shoes they had been long lost. His hair hung in filthy gray clumps from his head reaching his shoulders. A short beard that was more fluff than anything framed a slim face that showed signs of lost baby fat. The man's appearance screamed of years spent in the wild, away from civilization and a hot shower.

And his eyes spoke of experience and pain and _danger_.

Sasuke was sure he had forgotten how to breathe.

He had to do something about it.

Without thinking he spoke first, a new experience to him. His words cutting the silence like a warm knife cuts through butter.

"Are you going to stare at me all day?"

The man jumped, as if he hadn't expected any word to pass between them. His eyes were wide and bewildered, the impossible blue shining brightly. He seemed to be holding his breath.

For a moment, nothing happened.

"Tch. Who are you and where am I?"

Again it was Sasuke who broke the awkward silence, it made him physically uncomfortable even though he usually preferred the stillness.

The man opened his mouth, as if to say something, but the only thing that came out of his throat was an inhumane screeching sound. It startled both of them equally. The man closed his mouth, his eyes widening even further if it was possible. And silence fell again.

What was this man? Staring at Sasuke with such a comical expression on his face he seemed almost childish and yet his aura still seemed dangerous and wild to the Uchiha, rising the little hairs all over his body.

"Just my luck to be injured and now stuck with some sort of feral who can't even talk," he muttered to himself low enough to not be heard. And yet, the man stiffened just slightly in response, he had clearly picked up on the words.

 _Just who was he?_

From the looks of it he had _understood_ what Sasuke had just said. Because he looked down at himself as if he was registering the state his body was in for the first time, going as far as making a faint disgusted noise in the back of his throat.

 _How could this feral, ragged man understand him, understand the high language of the Corvi?_

Only high ranking demon nobles could understand it, only the _Surae_ could. So how on earth was this possible? The man certainly didn't look like he stemmed of a family of nobles, much less one of the _Clans_.

Suddenly the stranger turned away from Sasuke and went back to the forgotten fireplace.

Sasuke was thoroughly baffled and stared at the man's back as if it held all the secrets of life.

The man went on to start a fire and boiled water over the flames, all the while being visibly nervous and fidgety. The nervosity was almost palpable, as he trembled slightly and even managed to get burned while reaching for the boiling water, letting out a quiet hiss in pain.

Was it Sasuke that made him so nervous?

Suddenly there was a pattering of feet just outside the cave, steadily coming closer. The man looked up from the fire just in time to see three different colored foxes come storming into the cave, making a beeline for the stranger. They were carrying things; a few dead squirrels and rabbits and one was dragging a bird's nest? They placed the things right next to the fire and, judging from the man's behavior, the three definitely belong to him.

Had he tamed them like dogs to bring their kills back to the man? How could one train foxes to be smart enough to bring a bird's nest back to their master? Maybe they were chakra animals? So many questions swirling in his mind.

The man petted them all and chuckled faintly at their antics. But then the foxes spotted Sasuke and immediately the stranger was forgotten and all three jumped him as if he was their new toy, attacking him with tongues and paws. Sasuke was taken aback, he even tried to move away but he could only grunt in pain as he was reminded of his wounds.

Soon Sasuke could no longer see anything other than colored fur. It tickled his nose and his face was wet from the foxes' little tongues as they licked him, while his shoulders got a "massage" from their tiny paws. It wasn't entirely unpleasant because somehow they were smart enough to be careful not to hurt him but it was absolutely unexpected and strange.

From the direction of the fireplace sounded a deep and throaty but powerful sound. it took him a moment to understand what was happening but he caught on quickly. The man was _laughing_. It vibrated off the walls and filled the place with a foreign melody. The voice was rough and unused, sounded more like a cough than anything but it stirred something in Sasuke's chest.

The foxes apparently understood the significance of that laugh because they immediately lost their interest in the young Uchiha and darted back to their master's side. Not long after, it was him who was lost in different colored fox fur as the gray, the crimson and the orange fox buried him under their love.

Chuckling again the man scooped them up in his arms, letting them lick his face with wagging tails. Their tails and furs in the man's arms dancing around him like liquid flames. And Sasuke could only stare. The foxes' excited yipping and the man's breathy laughter were making the very air seem _alive_. He wanted to hear more of that laughter.

After a while, the stranger let them jump out of his arms and attended to the water again. He rummaged in a backpack and not long after the scent of mint filled the cave.

The man then approached Sasuke's lair and helped him sit up as much as it was possible. Sasuke grit his teeth not to cry out from the sharp sting in his abdomen. Then he was given a plastic cup of the mint tea. A plastic cup and _tea_ that spoke of civilization rather than wildness.

A seemingly feral man playing with foxes making mint tea in a plastic cup, laughing a breathy laughter that stirred Sasuke's emotions that he had long since declared dead.

Maybe on his fall on the run from Kabuto he had hit his head and was now dreaming?

This was too strange to be real.

But it got even stranger, as the man suddenly seemed to remember something and left Sasuke with the cup of steaming tea to rummage in the backpack again and fished a first aid kit out of it.

A first aid kit that - despite the man's appearance and years obviously spend in the wild - was still unused. In fact, the bandages were still wrapped in the plastic they came in. Sasuke wordlessly lifted his shirt to give the man better access to his wounds. He was too stunned to really think about his actions, foolishly trusting a man he knew next to nothing about.

Then Sasuke caught a glimpse of his wounds. They were shockingly not as bad as he remembered them, his broken ribs almost felt like they were _healed_ and the stab wound was not even bleeding anymore, which shouldn't be possible since he had gotten wounded just yesterday. In fact, his sword Kusanagi likely still had the blood of both him and Orochimaru on its blade. He had spotted the blade leaning against the cave wall not far from his lair. But he hadn't exactly had time to clean it. A strange thought made its appearance.

 _Could it be that the guy had_ healed _him? Seriously, who was this man?_

Sasuke didn't dare to move, almost didn't dare to _breathe_ as the man came far too close and clumsily bandaged his wounds. He stared awkwardly at the man's calloused hands and tried not to think about how the man smelled of forest and sun. What the hell was wrong with him anyway?

After the man was finished with his bandages they just sat in silence for a while, like neither knew what to do with the other's presence. Sasuke still didn't know what to make of the man. He wondered if he ever would.

Suddenly the stranger stood up abruptly, awkwardly pointing to the rabbits on the floor where the foxes had left them. Sasuke didn't know how to react. The man rubbed the back of his neck, a seemingly nervous gesture, and he turned away from Sasuke with a sheepish smile.

He went to skin and cook the meat and the only thing the Uchiha could do was watch him awkwardly.

Since the man was unable to communicate with Sasuke, he couldn't even hope to learn anything about this person. On the other hand, it seemed like the raven's presence confused the man. They were at a stalemate, with no way to make the next step.

So they were both sitting and assessing their standpoints, trying to figure the other out.

Trying to figure out whether they were a friend or foe.

SNSNSNSNS

The silence during their meal was deafening. The inhuman sound the man had made when he had tried to speak echoed in Sasuke's ears.

They couldn't communicate at all. He wouldn't even be able to learn the name of the man that saved his life. Said man was currently lost in his thoughts, that somewhere along the lines seemed to take a darker turn as the cerulean blue of his eyes darkened like clouds of worry, fear and _grief_ obscuring the sky.

Even though Sasuke usually relished in silence, he desperately wanted to break it now. Wanted to fill the void between them with something, anything.

"Can you understand me?"

The man jumped at the sudden question. After a moment he just nodded mutely.

So Sasuke had been right. This seemingly savage man couldn't be from anything else than a demon society.

"So, a high ranking _Surae_."

Sasuke was expecting a nod but instead he saw the man shake his head, looking utterly lost.

"What do you mean? You are a high ranking Surae, otherwise you wouldn't be able to understand the language of the _Corvi_."

Sasuke went as far as using the demon name for his clan just to provoke a reaction but he got nothing in return.

It wasn't possible for an outsider to understand it. The language of the _Corvi_ could only be understood by a being with massive amounts of chakra, more than a lesser demon could ever hope to have. A language full of chirps and trills, known only to a selected few; much like the tongue of the birds the Clan represented.

The man blinked at him.

"You really think you aren't a Surae..."

How was this possible? Sasuke was at loss. And he couldn't even ask his company for clarification. He stood alone in front of a puzzle he had yet to solve.

Suddenly the man's eyes lit up. When he moved he startled Sasuke out of his thoughts.

He scooped up the sand and dirt of the cave floor and formed a elevated line on the ground. He pointed at his work and then he pointed at the mountains, barely visible through the cave opening. Slowly it dawned to the Uchiha what he was trying to do. A miniature model of their surroundings. A map.

Then the man drew the outlines of… a country? The country beyond the mountains, the land of the humans, Horaeth. On their side of the miniature mountains he only made a wobbly circle . He drew an "x" near the mountains and pointed to Sasuke and then to himself and then around the cave. The "x" was their standpoint.

He continued by pointing on Horaeth and putting his hand on his own chest, using two of his fingers to "walk" across the model, across the mountain range to the "x". Then he looked at the raven expectantly.

Sasuke nodded but it still didn't make any sense.

"You say you came from across the mountains? From Horaeth? But that's human's land… How can you be from there and still understand the ancient language of the Corvi?"

The stranger just shrugged as if he never heard the terms.

"That doesn't make sense…"

The man rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. Sasuke stared at the man's dirty face, as if the answers to his many questions could be found there.

"Sasuke," he blurted out, suddenly deciding to trust this savage man who evidently saved Sasuke from his pursuers.

And after getting only a blank look, he elaborated.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke of the Corvi. Heir to the leader of the Raven. A Surae of the Clans."

There was a stunned silence but Sasuke wasn't expecting anything more.

So he continued. "And I don't believe you. You have to be at least a Surae of the Clans to understand our language. Only the Legendary Three make the exception. A lesser demon wouldn't even be able to make out words, let alone sentences. And I will find out about you soon enough, whether you can talk or not."

Sasuke was determined.

"Besides, I need to go to the lands of Horaeth anyways. You can guide me there."

Suddenly panic filled the man's eyes. A crazed look glazed over them.

He grabbed Sasuke's shoulders, his arms were shaking. But the grip was bruising and the way the man shook scared Sasuke.

What was happening?

His cerulean eyes had a far away, haunted look as if he was seeing ghosts from the past. The man's rapid breathing was shallow, reminding Sasuke of a fish on land.

Reminding Sasuke of the man's earlier panic attack he had secretly witnessed.

An eternity passed.

Suddenly something inside the man jolted and a violent shudder ran through him. Slowly but surely he regained his breathing back. The shaking lessened and the man loosened his grip on Sasuke's shoulders but he didn't let go.

He didn't meet the raven's shocked eyes.

Then he took a step back, eyes still fixated on the ground. He pointed to the miniature map that somehow survived his frenzy. He drew a circle in the dirt where he had drawn Horaeth, digging his finger deeper into the dirt. A choked noise escaped the man's clenched teeth.

Then he met Sasuke's eyes - wild blue clashing with shocked onyx - and made a "cut-throat" gesture.

The raven's eyes widened even more.

The stranger pointed at Horaeth, simulated a few coughs, and did the gesture again, looking at Sasuke.

And Sasuke understood. He didn't know why, he just did. As if he could hear the silent plea the man's eyes were sending him. Words rolled from his lips, hesitant and shocked.

"A disease… Horaeth… is dead?"

He received a nod in answer.

And silence fell again.

SNSNSNSNS

The day went by quickly, the man had ducked out of the cave not long after his "explanation" leaving Sasuke alone with his raging thoughts.

Nothing made sense. A disease killed the entirety of Horaeth? And the man claimed to come from there? How? Why?

Though it certainly explained his attire, it didn't explain how someone who was supposedly _human_ could understand a language no one without a huge amount of chakra could.

The only demons living in the human's land were the ones banished with their chakra suppressed. So how was this possible? This whole story just wasn't coming together at all.

A disease. Sasuke carefully suppressed a memory popping up in his head.

 _A memory of his brother coughing blood. Of Itachi telling him "Sorry Sasuke, maybe next time." A memory of his face as masked men took him away. A memory of_ his _voice muttering "the experiment has failed, we clearly should have used the younger Uchiha instead" not knowing that Sasuke had heard._

Sasuke shook his head. The chances that this was the same disease were slim but still there. What could it mean?

He didn't come up with any answers.

SNSNSNSNS

The young Uchiha laid awake this night. The slight discomfort from his wounds were certainly a part of the reason, but mostly because he was still thinking.

The man had fallen into a restless sleep, probably due to exhaustion. His bare upper body was covered by his foxes as he curled into himself next to the dim embers of the dying fire.

Sasuke couldn't make sense of this man. Why had he saved Sasuke, a literal stranger, anyway? Why would he do that in a foreign land with foreign people after he had apparently fled from a disease? He was an enigma.

He turned his gaze to the ceiling of the cave. Staring at a sleeping man's form wasn't going to answer his questions.

After that he tried to sleep.

His closed eyes snapped open not a minute later as suddenly an eerie pale light illuminated the cave.

His head snapped around. _Where would light come from in the dead of night?_

Beside the man stood a fox. Well not exactly, the fox was translucent and as big as a horse and swirling behind it were nine flaming red tails, dancing around its form like flames.

The actual foxes covering the man as well as said man himself didn't even stir.

Was this… the _Kyuubi_?

 _"I see you recognize me. Indeed, I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The Nine Tailed Demon Fox. The oldest of the Brethren of the Bijuu. And you are Uchiha Sasuke of the Corvi. And I shall answer a few of your questions because if my Kit has anything to say about it, you're going to stay with us for a while."_

Sasuke could only splutter. His thought process had been halted. The Kyuubi's voice was reverberating through his head. It wasn't every day that you met the _king_ of your race. The _god_ everyone deemed either a legend or a being that was already dead. The Kyuubi and the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki had always been a part of the once great Clan of the _Vulpes_ , the Uzumaki. But even though the job of a Jinchuuriki was usually passed on, no one had heard of the Demon King or his vessel for two generations.

And now this ethereal being stood before Sasuke and claimed to be said King.

How could so many impossible things happen in one day? Was he maybe already dead, killed by Kabuto and the snakes? Or had he hit his head when he fell and was now hallucinating?

 _"I get that this may come as a shock for you but I assure you that my appearance is real and that you are not hallucinating."_

"Can you read my thoughts?" Sasuke blurted out, too overwhelmed to really consider his actions.

The fox chuckled softly.

 _"No, but my Kit had the exact same reaction upon seeing me the first time."_

"Your Kit?"

The King half turned to the lump covered by sleeping foxes, his crimson eyes gaining a fond look.

 _"Uzumaki Naruto is his name and he is my current Jinchuuriki."_

The name of Sasuke's savior, _Uzumaki Naruto_. The seemingly feral man was in fact an Uzumaki. So he was a Surae of the Clans. That would explain why he could understand Sasuke's words. One question was answered but a ton of new ones were raised.

Wait, didn't the Kyuubi say he would answer his questions?

"Why would the vessel of the Demon King come from Horaeth? And how can Horaeth be wiped out by a disease? Why is your vessel trying to stop me from going there?"

 _"That is a long story, Uchiha and I'm not sure you are ready to hear it yet."_

Suddenly Sasuke's arrogant pride flared up. One day that would be his demise.

He _had_ to go to Horaeth. He couldn't let some mute stranger and a weird fox apparition stop him from getting his answers! He couldn't let them block his way to his brother.

Sasuke was grasping at straws, but in his desperation he didn't exactly think things through.

But there was this feral man, who broke down in a cave while watching the sunrise, and a fox apparition that wasn't even corporeal, and they were supposed to be the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki and the great Demon King himself?

Maybe they were lying.

And if they _were_ lying, it was possible that they were lying about Horaeth too. Maybe there was still a chance of Sasuke being able to go there and finally finding out something - _anything_ \- about Itachi.

He lashed out at the fox in his fear, a desperate attempt of gaining the upper hand in the cruel play of fate.

"Are you mocking me? _Belittling me?!_ You told me you would answer my questions! I need to go to Horaeth! Why would I believe your stories and let you stop me from going?! You expect me to believe your lies?!" he snarled. " Why would a feral man from the _human's land_ who claims to be no Surae actually turn out to be the Jinchuuriki of the strongest demon? Why should I trust him or you for that matter? Are you sure that you are the Kyuubi?"

Immediately he fox's posture changed. His face contorted into a snarl, showing every single one of his lethal fangs. He grew in size and his fur bristled as it stood on end.

He looked more regal now, deadlier. Sasuke had angered the Demon King.

 _"'Feral' you say?! Who are you to judge him on his appearance? Who are you to question his status as my vessel? You are nothing but a petulant child before me, you are hundreds of years too early to be able to question me! And how dare you look down on him who has saved your life and watched over your sleep when you were wounded! How dare you look down on him who has experienced pain and hardship worse than you could ever imagine!"_

Sasuke could only stare in awe and reverence at this ethereal being. The fierce crimson eyes alight with anger and deep red flames dancing in his bristled fur.

He had fucked up.

But his pride wouldn't let him admit defeat and instead he found his treacherous mouth riling the ancient fox up even further.

"I am saying that I don't need his weakness to stand in my way. I will go to Horaeth even if a disease killed a few humans there. You know nothing about me, my past or my reasons for going and nothing you could say would waver my resolve! If he is too afraid to guide me there, I don't need him and neither do I need to trust him or you and your claims about being the Kyuubi. Every child knows that the Kyuubi hasn't been seen for two generations.

Besides, it would be a good riddance, I can't have some feral man and his pets to slow me down on my quest."

 _"'Weak'?! 'Afraid'?! What do you know about him to make these claims? You think you are so much better than him because you have some sob-story? Well I can tell you, whatever you think you've been through, he has been through worse. His entire_ country _was wiped out due to this disease and he still hasn't given in to despair yet!_

 _Can you imagine walking an empty nation? Knowing that you are the last one alive? After losing not only family, friends, home, no, losing your entire_ species _!_

 _Not being able to follow them in death because for some cruel reason, fate has chosen you to live! Live and_ mourn _._

 _Wandering a dead land for years. Alone. While rotting corpses lay to your feet and the stench soaks into your very pores._

 _The Kit has found these three foxes -_ 'pets' _you call them_ _\- the last living souls in this land, and he made them his new_ family _. Can you even begin to comprehend a life in constant fear of losing everything again?! They lack names because of that fear. Because giving them names would mean becoming attached, and he can't afford to get close to anyone again._

 _So don't you EVER call him 'weak' or 'afraid' or 'feral' again. Or it will be the last thing you'll ever utter."_

Sasuke didn't know how to react. So he just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"The foxes? But aren't they chakra animals? They can't get sick or die… Why would he worry about losing them?"

The fox looming over him gave a dry chuckle.

 _"Oh, they might be chakra animals_ now, _but they didn't start that way. They were a heap of skin and bones crying for their dead mother before the Kit came along. He gave them a new family and he fed them all his love, energy, chakra, he fed them his very_ life. _He_ made _them to the chakra animals they are now. Through loss and suffering and love. And they return the favor. Nothing will ever part them. Never again._

 _But that doesn't make them invulnerable or immune._

 _The disease, 'The Creeping Death' affects the very chakra of a being. Demons are equally as affected._

 _Horaeth didn't suffer only_ _'a few'_ _human deaths. Surae died too. Even if they managed to survive a bit longer."_

"How do you know that? Why would Surae die in Horaeth?"

 _"Have you already forgotten who I am? Insolent brat. I am still the Nine tailed Demon Fox, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the King, at this point_ God _of your kind. I know every demon that has ever lived. I can feel your pathetic little lives. And I feel your deaths._

 _I feel every single demon who dies._

 _And besides, don't think I have forgotten where you exile demons to. Your favorite 'prison' is after all Horaeth. Realm of the_ Hourglasses.

 _But make no mistake, in that land demons and humans - hourglasses - die alike._

 _And in the end it doesn't matter who was stronger or better. Their bodies will all decay to the same dust._

 _You want to go to Horaeth?_

 _You are foolish to think you can make it out alive."_

The fox huffed and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

His words echoed on but in the now dark cave not a trace of the Kyuubi was left behind.

The whole situation was so unreal that Sasuke was left to wonder whether it all had just been a dream. But the goosebumps on his skin and the dread in his bones didn't let him ponder on that question.

Whether or not it was real, the words still lingered.

Together with the actions of the man - of Naruto - going to Horaeth was no longer an option.

Sasuke didn't get a wisp of sleep that night.

\- **end of Part 2: _New World_** -

 _To be continued_

* * *

 **Notes:**

I really hope that wasn't too OOC, for some reason I always write a very soft!Sasuke (not that I'm complaining).

Starting now, I also don't have any chapters pre-written.. meaning I have no idea when the next chapter will come out, but I'm trying to bring it to you as soon as possible! In the meantime, you could guess where this fic is headed ;P and maybe I will find inspiration in your ideas.  
Comments and Kudos make me happy

I wish everyone the best holidays and a happy new year!


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